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A  UTHOR : 


HOLBACH,  MAUDE  M. 


TITLE: 


IN  THE  FOOTSTEPS  OF 
RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


PLACE: 


BOSTON 


DA  TE : 


1912 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARIES 
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mr*m-i  .."*'   ' 


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-.esc  <?  1^2 -0^2- 


Holbach,  Maude  LI 

In  the  footsteps  of  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion. 
Boston,  Little,  1912. 

xii,  357,  [I]  p.  front . (port .  )  plates.   23cin, 


149921 


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THE  LIBRARIES 


IN  THE   FOOTSTEPS   OF 
RICHARD   GOEUR   DE   LION 


«  Noblest  of  all  thy  blood,  whose  Lion  name 
Still  lingers,  mighty  on  men's  lips  and  ears : 
Not  all  unmindful  of  thy  hazardings, 
Yet  un forgetting  of  the  pride  and  shame, 
Across  the  strange  bright  blazon  of  the  years 
I  hail  thee,  Richard,  royal  among  kings." 

Sonnet  to  Richard  Plantagenet.  from  the  Newdigate  Prize  Poem  won 
by  William  Chase  Greene,  of  Balliol  College,  Oxford  (Rhodes  Scholar 
from  the  State  of  Massachusetts),  1912. 


;/^/;-////^/^v'.v//  ./'  y^o/i 


Jt/'fti   t'f/yf' 


t/ tt/  <  /.  ^rf/.^/  'it^i^" 


IN  THE  FOOTSTEPS  OF 

RICHARD 
COEUR  DE  LION 


I  ■ 
I 


BY 


MAUDE  M.  HOLBACH 

author  of 

"dalmatia:  the  land  where  east  meets  west" 

"bosnia  and  herzegovina" 


with  photogravure  frontispiece 

and  33  other  illustrations  in  half-tone 

mostly  from  original  photographs  by  otto  holbach 


BOSTON 
LITTLE,   BROWN,   AND  COMPANY 

1912 


PREFACE 


Printed  in  Great  Britain 


It-     \1%V^ 


In  no  more  fitting  spot  could  I  have  penned  the 
firat  lines  of  a  book  which  follows  the  fortunes  of 
Richard  Coeur  de  Lion  than  in  the  ancient  university 
town  which  gave  him  birth.    It  was  my  good  fortune 
when  I  commenced  this  work  to  look  across  from 
an  Oxford  window,  hard  by  the  Martyrs'  Memorial, 
to  the  grey  old  tower  of  St.  Mary  Magdalene  rising 
from  its  ancient  churchyard,  and  to  look  upon  it 
with  interest  kindled  by  having  learnt  from  Mr. 
Falconer  Madan  of  the  Bodleian  Library  and  Oxford 
Historical  Society  that  this  church  still  commemor- 
ates,  by  the  design  of  the  Crescent  and  the  Star  upon 
Its  parish  seal,  the  birth  of  its  greatest  parishioner 
and  Oxford's  greatest  citizen. 

It  was  my  privilege  to  be  shown  that  portion  of 
the  building  where  the  stonework  of  the  twelfth 
century  is  still  visible  (that  may  have  witnessed 
Richard's  baptism)  by  the  present  vicar  and  enthusi- 
astic archaeologist.  Canon  Clayton,  to  whom  I  am 
indebted  for  much  interesting  information  con- 
cerning Beaumont  Palace,  where  Queen  Eleanor 
gave  birth,  on  8th  September  1157,  to  the  prince, 
who,  in  spite  of  detractors  of  many  nations,  still, 
after  a  lapse  of    seven    centuries,  Uves    in  men's 


vi 


PREFACE 


minds  as  the  embodiment  of  valour  summed  up 
in  his  nickname  of  lion  Heart. 

All  who  know  their  Oxford  know  that  Beaumont 
Street  takes  its  name  from  the  vanished  royal 
palace.  Canon  Clayton  affirms  that  the  house  he 
occupies  about  the  centre  of  the  street  must  stand 
upon  the  actual  site  of  the  building,  of  which  the 
ruined  walls  were  still  standing  when  Queen  Victoria 
came  to  the  throne.  As  an  illustration  of  the 
strange  incongruities  of  the  Oxford  of  that  time,  he 
relates,  that  when  his  father  was  an  undergraduate 
in  the  thirties  he  saw  Wombwell's  menagerie  en- 
camped in  the  waste  ground  beneath  the  palace 
walls— from  which  hung  a  skeleton  in  chains  ! 

All  that  now  remains  of  the  palace  is  a  fragment 
of  masonry  in  the  back  garden  of  one  of  the  Beau- 
mont Street  houses. 

From  Oxford  I  went,  in  the  footsteps  of  my  hero, 
to  the  Holy  Land,  which  was  the  scene  of  his  most 
famous  exploits.    I,  too,  sailed  as  he  sailed,  from 
Marseilles,   but    under    very  different    conditions. 
Instead  of  a  smaU  sailing  ship,  that  stately  liner, 
the  Dunottar  Castle,  bore  me  to  my  goal;    good 
fortune  having  so  smiled  upon  me  that  the  tune 
I  desired    to   visit   Palestine   not   only   coincided 
with  that  arranged  by  Sir  Henry  Lunn  for  his 
Palestine  tour,  but  the  voyage  actuaUy  followed 
Richard's  route  via  Sicily,  even  the  island  of  Rhodes 
being  visited.    My  only  misgiving  was  that  the 
luxury  on  board  should  dispel  the  spirit  of  pilgrimage 


PREFACE 


VII 


I  felt  to  be  proper  to  the  occasion.    I  need  have  had 
no  such  misgiving,  nor  had  I  when  I  learnt  to  know 
my  feUow-voyagers ;  for  most  were  pilgrims  in  spirit 
visiting  the  Holy  Land  with  real  reverence  for  it^ 
sacred  associations,  and  not  a  few  were  well-known 
representatives  of  learning  and  religious  thought, 
whose  society  was  most  stimulating.    And  now  that 
my  journeyings  are  ended  it  is  my  hope  to  teU  the 
tale  of  Richard's  life  more  truly  for  having  seen  the 
actual  scenes  connected  with  the  Third  Crusade.    I 
hold  that  some  magic  influence  clings  to  all  haunts 
of  men  where  famous  deeds  have  been  done,  that 
makes  it  easy  there  to  conjure  up  the  past— a'past, 
m  this  case,  of  high  aims  ending  in  apparent  earthly 
failure— of  noble  aims,  yet  oft,  it  must  be  admitted, 
of  Ignoble  deeds  that  hid  themselves  under  the  robe' 
of  Christianity. 

Cyprus— where  King  Richard  wedded  his  queen— 
Berengaria  of  Navarre-has  long  been  f  amihar  ground 
to  me,  as  also  the  little  isle  of  Lacroma  on  the 
Dahnatian  coast  where  he  suffered  shipwreck  on  his 
homeward  way,  and  Zara,  where  the  hunted  King 
assumed  the  palmer's  dress  to  escape  his  enemies. 

I  have  looked,  long  ere  now,  on  the  proud  towers 
of  Durrenstein  where,  according  to  tradition,  the 
captive  King  was  discovered  by  his  faithful  minstrel 
Blonde],  and  it  was  while  wandering  in  these  lands. 
Unked  with  Richard's  memory,  that  the  thought 
came  to  me  to  pen  these  pictures  of  their  past  and 
what  they  are  to-day. 


M, 


m 


m 


PREFACE 


No  character  in  history  has  had  more  historians 
than  Coeur  de  Lion.  We  have  accounts  of  his  vivid 
personaUty  and  warlike  prowess  from  EngUsh, 
Norman,  French,  German,  and  Arabic  sources,  and 
some  of  their  writers  have  painted  hun  very  black 
indeed ;  but  this  is  hardly  to  be  wondered  at  con- 
sidering that  his  fame  aroused  in  his  Hfetime  the 
envy  of  nearly  all  the  princes  of  Europe. 

To  follow  the  fortunes  of  this  much-travelled 
medieval  King  is  to  visit— whether  in  person  or  in 
imagination— some  of  the  most  interesting  places 
in  the  world,  and  to  have  them  increased  in  interest 
by  association  with  one  of  the  most  picturesque  and 
romantic  figures  in  history. 

MAUDE  M.  HOLBACH. 


Oxford,  March  1912. 


CONTENTS 


PART  I 


CHAP. 


I.  The  Peesonality  of  Richard  and  that  of  his 

Parents 

•  •  •  .  . 

n.  Early    Years  — The    Oxford    of    the    Twelfth 
Century 

m.  Richard  m  Aquitaine— Family  Quarrels     . 

IV.  Richard    and    his   Mother— The    Coronation   and 
Preparations  for  the  Crusade 

V.  The  Start  for  the  Holy  Land— Richard  reaches 
Sicily 

VI.  Richard  rights  his  Sister's  Wrongs  and  is  reconciled 
to  Tancred— Berengarla.  arrives  at  Messina 

VII.  Departure  from  Messina  and  Landing  in  Cyprus  . 

Vin.  Richard's    Conquest    of    Cyprus— Departure    for 
Palestine— The  Taking  of  Acre  . 

[   IX.  Quarrels  between  Richard  and  Philip— The  March 

South  from  Acre     . 

•  •  •  • 

X.  Hardships  of  the  March— The  Battle  of  Arsuf 

XI.  The  Camp  at  Jaffa— Negotiations  for  Marriage 
OF  Queen  Joan  with  Al  Adil— A  Fruitless 
Attempt  to  reach  Jerusalem— Richard  rebuilds 
the  Walls  of  Ascalon 

•  •  • 

Xn.  Henry  of  Champagne  elected  King  of  Jerusalem- 
Siege   OF   Darum— III   News   from   England 

Richard  within  Sight  of  Jerusalem 

Xm.  The  Raid  on  the  Great  Caravan— Dissensions  in  the 
Camp— Retreat  from   Beit  Nuba— The   Relief 
of  Jaffa 
6  ... 


PAOB 


15 
22 

32 

43 

56 
68 

82 

104 
117 


128 


145 


I 


157 


'*Jt'"' 
'I™.. 


CONTENTS 


VAQM 


CHAP. 


HAP  cf 

XIV  Negotiations  for  Peaci— Sabacen  Attack— Sapha- 
Dm's  Gnrr  to  Richard— Sabacbns'  Admiration 
FOR  Richard— Pilgrims  visit  Jerusalem- Last 
Days  of  Saladin ^"^ 

XV.  Richard  in  Dalmatia-Trbachbry  op  the  Lord  of 
GoRZ— Arrested  ry  thb  Duke  op  Austria— His 
Tbial  and  Queen  Eleanor's  Appeal  to  the  Pope 
—Richard  in  Germany       .  .  •  .188 

XVI.  Richard  returns  to  England— Demonstrations  in 
London— Richard  goes  to  France- Wins  back 
his  Southern  Dominions— Philip  defeated— 
Revival  op  Military  Tournaments— Death  of 
THE  Duke  of  Austria         .  .  •  .209 

XVn  Wars  with  Philip— Richard's  Diplomacy— Building 
OP  Chateau  Gaillard— Meeting  with  Philip— 
Treasure-trove  at  Chaluz— The  Siege— Death 
OF  the  King— BuRLiL  at  Fontevbaud      .  .    227 


PART  II 
Introduction       ...••• 
I.  Peom  N0BMA>n.Y  TO  AQuiTAi^.  To-Dat  .  . 

II.  The  Sbacoast  of  Palestine— Acre  to  Gaza  To-Day 

m.  Cyprus 

IV.  From  the  Adriatic  to  the  Rhine 

Index     ...••• 


253 
256 
303 
326 
339 

353 


FACIKO  PAGE 

8 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Richard  Coeur  de  Lion,  prom  the  Print  in  Montpaucon's 
Antiquities,  after  Monument  at  Fontevraud,  Original 
AT  S.  Kensington  (no  other  Original  Portrait  op  the 
Kino  known) FrarUispiece 

Richard's  Mother,  Eleanor  of  Aquitainb    . 

Arms  of  the  Town  op  Dartmouth,  which  Commemorate  the 
Sailing  op  the  Crusading  Fleet  op  Richard  I  from  this 
Port,  1190 

Parish  Seal  op  St.  Mary  Magdalene,  Oxford,  which  Com- 
memorates BY  the  Crescent  and  the  Star  the  Memory 
OP  THE  Birth  op  its  Greatest  Parishioner,  Richard  I. 

Ruins  op  Beaumont  Palace,  Oxford,  in  the  Last  Century, 
FROM  A  Drawing  made  in  1774     .... 

Statue  op  Richard  I.  in  old  Palace  Yard,  Westminster 

Coronation  Procession  of  Richard  I.,  from  an  Illuminated 
MS.  IN  the  British  Museum 

•  •  • 

Dartmouth  Castle,  at  the  Entrance  to  the  Port  whence 
THE  Crusading  Fleet  sailed 

•  •  • 

Richard's  Queen,  Berengarli  of  Navarre   . 

Crusaders'  Church  at  Rhodes,  now  converted  into  a 
Mosque  ....... 

Second  Seal  op  Richard  I.,  a.d.  1198  (made  after  First 
Seal  was  lost  off  Cyprus).    Obverse    . 

Second  Seal  of  Richard  I.,  a.d.  1198.  Reverse.  Shield 
BEARS  Three  Lions  passant  ouardant  in  Pale  ;  the 
Earliest  Appearance  op  the  Royal  Arms  of  England  . 

Abbey  of  Bella  Pais,  Cyprus 

'  •  •  •  « 

Acre  on  the  Land  Side,  from  an  Old  Drawing  by  David 
Roberts,  R.A. 


18 

18 

28 
38 

48 

58 
68 

78 

88 

98 
108 

118 


XI 


xu 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


»i 


FACraa  PAQB 

.     128 


Thi  Old  Walls  of  Acbb,  "  A  Fobtbess  in  the  Ska 

The  Street  of  the  Knights  at  Rhodes 

Ruins  of  Ascalon,  feom  a  Drawing  by  David  Roberts, 

R.A 

Summit  of  Nebi  Samwil,  whebb  Richabd  stood  looking 

TOWARDS  Jerusalem  .  .  •  •  • 

Lacboma  (Scene  of  Richabd  I/s  Shipwbeck),  fbom  the  Coast 

Road  to  Ragusa      ..•••• 
Chateau  Gaillabd,  "  whebe  the  Seine  bends  suddenly  at 

Gaillon  in  a  gbeat  Semicibcle  to  the  Nobth,"  afteb 

Tubneb's  Dbawing  ...••• 
The  Castle  of  Chinon,  fbom  an  Old  Dbawing 

FONTEVBAUD  AbBEY,  THB  BuBIAL-PLACE  OF  THE  PlANTAGBNET 

Kings.  ..••••* 

Effigy  of  Richabd  I.  at  Fontevbaud  Abbey 
Effigy  of  Richabd  I.  at  Rouen  Cathedbal,  discovebed  1838 
Rouen  Cathedbal  (whebe  Richabd*s  Hbabt  was  bubied), 
afteb  Tubneb's  Dbawing.  .  .  .  • 

ChIteau  Gaillabd  fbom  the  Seine,  afteb  Tubneb^s  Dbawing 
coubtyabd  of  the  mosque  at  acbe  .... 
The  Crusading  Chubch  of  the  Knights  of  St.  John  at  Acbe 
Jaffa  fbom  the  Land  Side,  fbom  an  Old  Dbawing  by  David 

Roberts,  R.A.  ...••• 

Ragusa,  Dalmatia,  fbom  the  Coast  Road     . 
Cloistebs  of  Monasteby  on  the  Island  of  Lacboma,  Dal- 

MATL^,   TBADITIONALLY   FOUNDED    BY   RiCHABD    COEUB   DE 

Lion    ...••••' 
Ruins  of  Durrenstein,  on  the  Danube 
Engush  Possessions  in  France  of  Richabd  I. 
Palestine  at  the  Time  of  the  Thibd  Cbusade 


138 
148 

158 
168 

178 
188 

108 
208 

218 

228 
238 
248 
258 

268 

278 

288 
298 
316 
334 


IN  THE  FOOTSTEPS  OF 
RICHARD  GOEUR  DE  LION 


PART  I 
CHAPTER  I 

THE   PERSONALITY  OF  MOHARD   AJSD  THAT  OF 

HIS  PARi;2iTS 

"He  was   lofty  in    stutiire,    of   a  shapely  build, 
with  hair  half-way  between  red  and  yellow.    His 
limbs  were  straight  and  flexible,  his  arms  aomewhat 
long  and,  for  this  very  reason,  better  fitted  than 
those  of  most  folk  to  draw  or  wield  the  sword. 
Moreover,  he  had  long  legs,  matching  the  character 
of  his  whole  frame.    His  features  showed  the  ruler, 
while  his  manners  and  his  bearing  added  not  a  lit  Me 
to  his  general  presence.     Not  only  could  he  claim 
the  loftiest  position  and  praise  in  virtue  of  his  noble 
birth,  but  also  by  reason  of  his  virtues.    He  far 
surpassed  other  men  in  the  courtesy  of  his  manners 
and  the  vastness  of  his  strength ;  memorable  was 
he  for  his  warUke  deeds  and  power,  while  his  splendid 
achievements  would  throw  a  shade  over  the  greatest 
praise  we  could  give  them.  .  .  .  The  Lord  of  the  ages 
had  given  him  such  generosity  of  soul  and  endued 


2  RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 

him  with  such  virtues  that  he  seemed  rather  to  belong 
to  earUer  times  than  these.  ...  His  was  the  valour 
of  Hector,  the  magnanimity  of  Achilles ;  he  was 
no  whit  inferior  to  Alexander,  or  less  than  Roland 

in  manhood."  ,    ,  ,         i 

This  is  the  picture  of  Richard  i.  sketched  for  us  by 
the  hand  of  a  contemporary  writer,  that  Richa,rd 
of  the  Holy  Trinity  to  whom  the  best  authorities 
have  ascribed  the  Itinerarium  Ricardi,  the  chief 
European  account  of  the  Third  Crusade,  and  a 
rarely  picturesque  one,  written  from  notes  made 
on  the  spot  and  during  the  journey,  and  m  the 
camp  if  not  on  the  battlefield. 

This  writer,  who  surely  had  better  opportumties  of 
judging  the  King's  character  than  those  that  come 
later,  is  kinder  to  his  namesake  than  the  majority 
of  h^torians  have  been ;  there  are  plenty  who  deny 
Coeur  de  Lion  any  virtue  save  courage,  and  point  to 
his  rebelUon  against  his  father,  his  merciless  taxa- 
tion of  his  subjects  to  carry  on  the  Crusade,  and 
his  ruthlessness  in  war,  in  proof  of  their  theory  that 
he  was  without  natural  affection  and  possessed 
of  no  higher  motive  in  his  hfelong  warfare  than 
lust  of  conquest  and  personal  ambition.     ^ 

Dr.  Stubbs  in  his  preface  to  the  Chrmmles  and 
Mm<yrials  of  Richard  /.,  which  he  edited  in  1864 
gives  very  good  reasons  why  Richard  i.  has  fared 
badly  at  the  hands  of  many  historians,  and  especially 
those  of  foreign  birth.  He  sums  up  the  matter  thus— 
"  The  family  connections  of  the  King  involved 
him  in  the  conflicting  interests  of  Italy,  France, 
Germany,  and  Spain.  His  personal  adventures  open 
up  the  whole  poHtical  history  of  the  age.  The 
dominions  in  which  he  exercised  real  or  nominal 


mSkOMimamimmmllm 


PERSONALITY  OF  RICHARD  AND  PAREN-re      3 

sway  were  more  diversified  in  character  and  circum- 
stances than  those  of  any  prince  of  his  time.     King 
of  England,  lord  of  Ireland,  Scotland,  and  Wales 
Duke  of  Normandy,  Aquitaine,  and  Gascony,  Count 
of  Maine,  Anjou,  and  Poitou,  and  superior  lord  of 
Brittany,  Auvergne,  and  Toulouse,  King  of  Aries 
conqueror  of  Cyprus,  and  for  a  time  the  ruler  of  the 
kingdom  of  Palestine,  he  was  brought  into  colUsion 
with  ahnost  every  potentate  in  Christendom.  . 
Richard  has  been  portrayed  for  us  by  a  greater 
number  of  historians  than  any  sovereign  of  his  age 
or  any  King  of  England  before  him.    We  know  what 
Jtoghshman,     Norman,    Frenchman,    Greek,     and 
Mussuhnan  thought  about  him,  and  it  is  no  wonder 
considering  the  number  of  princes  whom  he  either 
outshone  by  his  exploits  or  offended  by  his  pride, 
or  mjured   by  active  aggression,   or  who,  having 
injured   him,   hated   him   with   the   pertinacity  of 
mjustice,  that  his  character  has  fared  badly  in  the 
hands  of  foreign  chroniclers." 

Whatever  may  have  been  this  King's  short- 
comings, he  possessed  in  so  great  degree  the  elusive 
quahty  called  charm,  which  bUnds  men  and  women 
to  the  failings  of  those  who  possess  it,  that  he  won 
durmg  his  Ufetime  the  love  and  admiration  even  of 
his  enemies,  and  the  spell  of  his  personality  still 
works  after  seven  centuries ;  so  that  I  personally  feel 
I  must  do  my  Uttle  to  show  that  his  faults  were 
mamly  due  to  heredity,  environment,  and  the  rude 
age  m  which  he  Uved,  and  that  the  wonder  is  not 
that  he  did  some  ill  but  that  his  conduct  is  often 
conspicuous  for  actions  of  great  generosity  and  real 
nobihty. 

The  old  chronicler  paints  for  us,  in  the  lines 


'■i 


ififl 


!|<il< 


4  RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 

with  which  I  opened  this  chapter,  a  picture  of  a  fine 
athletic  man  of  kingly  bearing,  whose  red-gold  hair 
would  prepare  students  of  human  nature  for  a  pas- 
sionate disposition  and  hasty  temper.  His  handsome 
face  and  features  he  inherited,  with  his  poetic  tastes, 
from  his  beautiful  mother,  to  whom  historians  have 
been  hardly  more  kind  than  to  her  son,  but  who  cer- 
tainly possessed  elements  of  greatness,  or  she  would 
not  have  atoned  as  she  did  for  an  ill-spent  youth,  by 
a  wise  and  benevolent  old  age  devoted  to  the  service 
of  her  son  and  of  his  coimtry.  It  is  a  truism  that 
great  men  are  invariably  the  sons  of  remarkable 
mothers,  and  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion  was  truly  his 
mother's  son.  Some  of  his  vices  as  well  as  his 
virtues  were  inherited  from  her,  and,  therefore, 
before  we  follow  his  career,  it  is  worth  while  to  recall 
something  of  the  history  of  that  luxurious  lady  of 
the  South  and  heiress  of  the  fair  land  of  Provenfe 
— the  Duchess  of  Aquitaine.  A  name,  by  the  way, 
which  is  not  generally  known  was  given  by  Juhus 
Caesar  to  the  South  of  Gaul  from  its  many  rivers  and 
fine  harbours,  and  adopted  by  the  poetical  people 
who  spoke  the  Provenfal  tongue  after  the  dismember- 
ment of  the  old  kingdom  of  Proven9e.^ 

Eleanor's  kingdom  stretched  from  sea  to  sea,  from 
the  borders  of  Brittany  and  Anjou  to  the  Pyrenees — 
she  was  a  very  great  princess  indeed,  and  to  come 
into  such  an  inheritance  at  the  age  of  fourteen, 
and  at  the  same  time  become  by  marriage  Queen  of 
France,  was  enough  to  turn  the  head  of  any  girl ; 
let  alone  one  of  extreme  beauty  surrounded  by 
flatterers,  who  had  been  deprived  by  her  parents' 
death  in  childhood  of  any  wise  influence  or  restraint 

1  8UkliUnd«  Quuns  of  Kn^lajvi,  p.  243« 


PERSONALITY  OF  RICHARD  AND  PARENTS      6 

and  brought  up  in  a  Ucentious  court.    If  Eleanor's 
grandfather,  the  great  Duke  William,  had  atoned  for 
his  gay  life  by  watching  over  his  orphaned  grand- 
child, till  she  was  of  maturer  years,  instead  of  trying 
to  save  his  soul  at  the  last  by  taking  a  pilgrim's  staff 
and  dying  in  a  hermit's  cave  in  Spain,  Eleanor  might 
never   by   her   folhes   have   caused   the   calamities 
she  did  ;    but  that  is  only  another  example  of  the 
sins  of  the  parents  being  visited  upon  the  children. 
If  she  were  as  immoral  as  some  historians  say- 
but  unfaithfulness  to  her  first  husband  has  never 
been  proved  against  her— she  but  carried  on  the 
hereditary  instincts  and  the  example  of  her  grand- 
father.   If  her  ^n  Richard  i.  also  incUned  to  the 
same  sins-^ould  much  else  be  expected  from  the 
child  of  Henry  it.  (whose  liaison  with  fair  Rosamund 
Clifford  all  England  knew)  and  of  the  divorced  Queen 
of  France  who  six  weeks  later  became  Queen  of 
England  ? 

It  is  but  fair,  however,  to  say  of  Eleanor  that  her 
love  of  a  gay  hfe  and  sumptuous  attire  went  hand  in 
hand  with  culture  and  refinement  such  as  were 
unknown  in  England  before  she  became  it«  queen. 
Her  grandfather,  one  of  the  first  Troubadours,  was 
a  liberal  patron  of  the  arts  of  music  and  poetrj-, 
and  his  grandchild  and  great-grandson  inherited  his 
tastes.    It  is  of  interest  to  note  that  another  heritage 
brought  to  England  by  the  heiress  of  Aquitaine 
was  the  battle-cry, "  St.  George  for  merry  England  " 
(adopted  from  the  Aquitaine  Duke^\  "St.  George 
for  the  puissant  duke"),  and  the  device  of  the 
leopard  on  the  Royal  coat  of  arms  of  all  the  Plan- 
tagenet  kings. 

The  story  of  Eleanor  s  Amazonian  troop  of  Court 


)i 


€  RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 

ladies  who  took  part  in  the  Second  Crusade,  is 
dismissed  as  unauthentic  by  many  writers,  but  is 
so  in  keeping  with  her  romantic  spirit  that  it 
seems  not  improbable.  Those  who  admit  it  affirm 
that  after  the  terrible  calamity  in  which  thirteen 
hundred  persons  were  burnt  in  the  Cathedral  at 
Vitry,  the  Queen  repented  of  the  influence  she  had 
brought  to  bear  upon  King  Louis  vii.  in  urging 
him  to  war  against  the  Count  of  Champagne,  and 
in  chastened  spirit  she  hstened  to  the  preaching  of 
St.  Bernard  in  the  market-place  of  Vezalai  in  Bur- 
gundy, the  reputed  shrine  of  St.  Mary  Magdalene, 
and  with  her  usual  impulsiveness  vowed,  as  sovereign 
of  Aquitaine,  to  accompany  the  King  to  the  Holy 
Land. 

As  soon  as  she  had  received  the  Cross,  Eleanor 
put  on  the  dress  of  an  Amazon  and  directed  her 
ladies  to  do  the  same.  It  is  said  they  all  sent  their 
distaffs  as  presents  to  the  knights  and  nobles  who 
had  not  joined  the  crusade,  and  by  this  taunt  induced 
many  to  go  who  would  have  been  wiser  to  attend 
to  duties  nearer  home,  the  result  being  that  as  the 
knights  took  their  serving  men  with  them,  whole 
villages  were  deserted  by  the  male  population. 

Unfortunately  Queen  Eleanor's  rehgious  ardour, 
and  that  of  her  ladies,  did  not  go  deep  enough  for 
the  seM-sacrifice  of  discarding  the  many  luxuries 
to  which  they  were  accustomed  at  home;  so  the 
army  was  hampered  by  a  huge  baggage  train.  Nor 
was  this  the  worst— the  proud  sovereign  of  Aquitaine, 
who  could  brook  no  authority,  had  not  learnt  a 
soldier's  first  lesson  of  obedience  and  was  quite 
incapable  of  recognising  that  an  army  must  have 
one  supreme  head.    She  ever  went  her  own  way, 


PERSONALITY  OF  RICHARD  AND  PARENTS      7 

and  her  folly  and  headstrongness  brought  upon 
King  Louis  a  terrible  disaster  at  Laodicea,  in  which 
he  lost  seven  thousand  men  and  only  by  the  most 
desperate  valour  escaped  with  his  hfe. 

The  King  had  sent  forward  the  Queen's  detach- 
ment with  a  picked  escort  and  orders  to  encamp 
for  the  night  on  the  high  ground  commanding  the 
valley  of  Laodicea,  from  which  they  could  see  the 
approach  of  any  enemy,  while  he  brought  up  the 
rear  at  a  distance  of  several  miles  and  protected  the 
baggage  train. 

As  ill-luck  would  have  it,  the  romantic,  foohsh 
Queen  was  seized  with  a  desire  to  explore  the  beauti- 
ful valley,  and  so  fell  in  love  with  it  that  she  insisted 
on  camping  in  its  grassy  glades  beside  a  ci^stal 
stream,   which   doubtless   seemed   more    attractive 
in  that  thirsty  land  than  the  barren  heights  around. 
It  was  a  spot  to  please  a  poet's  fancy.    Eleanor  at 
once  dismissed  all  thought  of  danger  and  settled  down 
to  enjoy  its  sylvan  charms.     Meanwhile,  at  dusk, 
the  King,  after  skirmishing  all  day  with  the  Arab 
cavalry  on  his  march,  reached  the  appointed  camping 
ground,  to  find  it  occupied  by  the  enemy,  who  poured 
down  from  the  heights  to  the  attack  as  he  tried  to 
force  his  way  through  the  valley  to  join  his  advance 
guard.    All  night  the  battle  raged,  and  though  at 
daybreak  King  Louis  reached  his  Queen  (whom  he 
must  at  that  moment  have  wished  far  enough  away), 
the  flower  of  the  French  chivalry  had  been  sacrificed 
to  her  whim  and  the  provision  for  the  whole  army 
lost. 

It  is  some  satisfaction  to  record  that  the  baggage 
train  with  all  the  ladies'  finery  was  lost  also.  This 
is  not  the  place  to  write  a  history  of  Queen  Eleanor, 


m\ 


8 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


and  I  give  this  story  only  for  its  picturesqueness  and 
the  light  it  throws  upon  the  character  of  King 
Richard's  mother. 

Scandal  has  Knked  her  name  with  that  of  her 
uncle,  Raymond  of  Poitou,  described  by  old 
chroniclers  as  the  handsomest  man  of  his  age,  whom 
she  met  for  the  first  time  in  Palestine,  but  many 
authorities  assert  that  Raymond's  attentions  to  the 
beautiful  Queen  had  a  political  motive,  and  that  he 
paid  his  court  not  to  the  woman,  but  to  the  power- 
ful sovereign  of  Aquitaine.  Eleanor  doubtless  in 
her  youth  was  a  born  coquette,  and  loved  to  try 
and  turn  men  round  her  httle  finger  (in  later  Ufe 
she  showed  considerable  abihty  as  a  diplomat),  and 
it  is  probable  that  the  old  chroniclers  who  loved 
scandal,  often  attributed  to  her  graver  sins  when  she 
was  merely  guilty  of  indiscretion,  or  of  using  her 
personal  charm  to  attain  a  political  end. 

Her  marriage  with  the  King  of  France  was  dis- 
solved, probably  by  mutual  consent,  on  the  plea  of  con- 
sanguinity, after  she  had  borne  him  two  daughters. 
Most  likely  King  Louis  was  heartily  tired  of  his 
beautiful  but  erratic  wife  who,  from  his  point  of 
view,  might  have  made  up  for  her  foibles  if  she  had 
borne  him  a  son,  and  she  on  her  part  had  fallen  in  love 
with  Henry  Plantagenet,  Duke  of  Normandy  and 
Anjou — that  he  was  even  more  nearly  related  to 
her  than  the  husband  from  whom  she  had  been 
divorced  troubled  her  conscience,  however,  not 
at  all. 

I  have  said  that  Richard  i.  was  essentially  the 
son  of  his  mother,  but  his  restlessness  and  super- 
abundant physical  energy,  as  well  as  the  tawny 
Angevin  hair  of  his  great  ancestor  Fulk,  were  an  in- 


':M 


mm.- 


RICHARD'S  MOTHER,  ELEANOR  OF  AQUITAINE.— 6"^^/.  4 


8 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


and  I  give  this  story  only  for  its  picturesqueness  and 
the  Ught  it  throws  upon  the  character  of  King 
Richard's  mother. 

Scandal  has  linked  her  name  with  that  of  her 
uncle,  Raymond  of  Poitou,  described  by  old 
chroniclers  as  the  handsomest  man  of  his  age,  whom 
she  met  for  the  first  time  in  Palestine,  but  many 
authorities  assert  that  Raymond's  attentions  to  the 
beautiful  Queen  had  a  pohtical  motive,  and  that  he 
paid  his  court  not  to  the  woman,  but  to  the  power- 
ful sovereign  of  Aquitaine.  Eleanor  doubtless  in 
her  youth  was  a  born  coquette,  and  loved  to  try 
and  turn  men  round  her  Uttle  finger  (in  later  hfe 
she  showed  considerable  abiHty  as  a  diplomat),  and 
it  is  probable  that  the  old  chroniclers  who  loved 
scandal,  often  attributed  to  her  graver  sins  when  she 
was  merely  guilty  of  indiscretion,  or  of  using  her 
personal  charm  to  attain  a  political  end. 

Her  marriage  with  the  King  of  France  was  dis- 
solved, probably  by  mutual  consent,  on  the  plea  of  con- 
sanguinity, after  she  had  borne  him  two  daughters. 
Most  hkely  King  Louis  was  heartily  tired  of  his 
beautiful  but  erratic  wife  who,  from  his  point  of 
view,  might  have  made  up  for  her  foibles  if  she  had 
borne  him  a  son,  and  she  on  her  part  had  fallen  in  love 
with  Henry  Plantagenet,  Duke  of  Normandy  and 
Anjou — that  he  was  even  more  nearly  related  to 
her  than  the  husband  from  whom  she  had  been 
divorced  troubled  her  conscience,  however,  not 
at  all. 

I  have  said  that  Richard  i.  was  essentially  the 
son  of  his  mother,  but  his  restlessness  and  super- 
abundant physical  energy,  as  well  as  the  tawny 
Angevin  hair  of  his  great  ancestor  Fulk,  were  an  in- 


# 


RICHARD'S   MOTHER,   ELEANOR   OF  AQUITAINE.— .9^^/.  4 


PERSONALITY  OF  RICHARD  AND  PARENTS    11 


heritance  from  his  father  ;  as  I  have  quoted  the  words 
of  an  old  chronicler  to  describe  the  son,  I  will  also 
quote  Peter  of  Blois  (private  secretary  and  chaplain 
to  King  Henry  ii.)  to  describe  the  father :   "  Of 
midWytejtature  he  is  so  that  among  Kttle  men  seemeth 
he  not  much,  nor  among  long  men  seemeth  he  over 
httle.    His  head  is  round,  as  in  token  of  great  wit 
and  of  special  high  counsel  the  treasury.    His  eyes 
fine  and  clear  as  to  color,  when  he  is  of  pleased  will, 
but  through  disturbance  of  heart  Uke  sparkUng  fire 
or  lightening  with  hastiness.    His  head  of  curly 
hair,  when  cHpped  square  in  the  forehead,  showeth 
a  lyonous  visage.    Each  day  at  Mass  and  council  .  .  . 
throughout  the  whole  morning,  he  standeth  a-foot, 
and  yet  when  he  eateth  he  never  sitteth  down  .  .  . 
not  as  other  kings  heth  he  in  his  palace,  but  travelUng 
about  by  his  provinces  espieth  he  the  doings  of  all 
men.  .  .  .  When  he  may  rest  from  worldly  business, 
privily   he   occupieth   himself   about   learning   and 
reading,  and  among  his  clerks  asketh  many  ques- 
tions." 

We  are  accustomed  to  think  of  past  ages  as  those 
in  which  men  hved  more  leisurely,  but  as  strenuous 
a  personaUty  is  here  Umned  for  us  as  any  of  the 
present  day.  Peter  of  Blois  paints  a  portrait  that 
strongly  suggests  comparison  with  that  notable 
example  of  Eoyal  versatiKty  and  energy— the  present 
Emperor  of  Germany.  It  is  related  of  Henry  ii. 
that,  excepting  at  meals,  his  impatience  would  never 
allow  him  to  sit  down.  His  passion  for  the  chase  was 
such  that  he  followed  it  whenever  State  business 
allowed,  from  dawn  to  dark.  His  constant  change 
of  plans  kept  his  courtiers  in  a  perpetual  state  of 
turmoil.    If  he  ever  had  a  spare  moment  it  found 


I 


It 


12 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


him  with  a  book  in  his  hand,  in  an  age  when  books 
were  left  to  clerks  and  priests. 

But  if  he  was  hard  on  others  he  was  also  hard 
on  himself,  Uving  abstemiously  and  never  resting,  as 
an  historian  ^  who  has  made  a  special  study  of  the 
early  Plantagenets  has  said  :  "  In  temper  and  tastes 
Henry  was  an  Angevin  of  the  Angevins.  His 
restlessness  seems  to  have  outdone  that  of  Fulk 
Nerra  himself.  He  was  always  up  and  doing ;  if  a 
dream  of  ease  crossed  him  even  in  sleep,  he  spurned 
it  angrily  from  him.  He  gave  himself  no  peace,  and 
as  a  natural  consequence  he  gave  none  to  those 
around  him.''  Such  a  husband  and  father  must 
have  been  extremely  difficult  to  live  with,  and  perhaps 
Henry's  over-active  mind  accounts  in  some  measure 
for  the  quarrels  that  arose  later  in  his  family.  His 
neglect  of  his  person  and  appearance  could  not  but 
have  been  a  trial  to  his  cultivated,  elegant  wife ;  for 
contemporary  writers  tell  us  that  in  his  clothing 
he  could  hardly  be  distinguished  from  his  servants, 
and  specially  dwell  on  his  large,  coarse  hands.  "  His 
hands  through  their  large  size  showeth  negligence, 
for  he  utterly  leaveth  the  keeping  of  them,  never, 
but  when  he  beareth  hawks,  weareth  he  gloves."  How 
strong  a  contrast  this  to  his  son  Richard's  love  of 
personal  adornment  and  beautiful  attire!  These, 
then,  were  the  parents  of  Richard  the  Lion-Hearted 
— both  people  of  strong  personality  who  might  be 
expected  to  have  children  who  would  distinguish 
themselves.  Of  their  four  sons  the  eldest  died  in 
childhood ;  the  second,  twice  crowned  King  during 
his  father's  lifetime,  died  before  him ;  it  was  their 
third  son,  Richard,  alone  who  carried  on  the  brave 

*  K.  Norgate. 


PERSONALITY  OF  RICHARD  AND  PARENTS     13 

traditions  of  the  warlike  Counts  of  Anjou,  and  writ 
his  name  large,  from  East  to  West,  on  the  heroes'  roll 
of  fame. 

There  is  many  a  legend  of  the  Counts  of  Anjou 
which  ascribes  to  them  a  supernatural  origin.  It  is 
told  of  one  that  he  wedded  a  stranger  of  unearthly 
beauty  who  shunned  the  consecrated  precincts  of  a 
church,  and  when  obliged  to  hear  Mass  sought  to 
leave  the  building  before  the  consecration  of  the 
Host.  She  was  stopped,  according  to  the  story,  by 
her  husband's  command  to  his  armed  retainers  to 
detain  her  by  force,  but,  as  they  laid  hold  of  her  cloak, 
shook  it  from  her  and  floated  upwards,  vanishing 
through  the  window  of  the  church  and  taking  two 
of  her  children  with  her,  but  leaving  two  more,  in 
whom  was  the  strain  of  demon  blood  which  accounts 
for  the  extraordinary  ability  and  mad  passions  of 
their  descendants. 

Every  crumbhng  castle  along  the  valley  of  the 
Loire  has  its  tale  of  the  Black  Count — the  great 
castle  builder  whose  chain  of  fortresses  linked  his 
possessions  in  Touraine  with  his  headquarters  in 
Anjou,  and  who,  from  the  time  he  won  his  first 
stupendous  victory  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  carried  on 
an  almost  unbroken  series  of  successes  for  nearly 
fifty  years,  his  name  carrying  everywhere  terror  into 
the  hearts  of  his  foes,  as  did  that  of  his  great 
descendant  in  later  times. 

It  may  be  that  from  Fulk  Nerra,  Richard  Coeur 
de  Lion  inherited  his  crusading  instincts,  though  they 
were  also  doubtless  fed  in  childhood  by  the  tales  his 
mother  must  have  told  him  of  her  own  visit  to  the 
magic  East  and  the  Holy  City. 

The  Black  Count  visited  Palestine  no  less  than 


^ 


(I 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


four  times  during  his  lifetime  (surely  sufficient  in 
itself  to  discount  the  grim  stories  of  his  ancestry), 
and  died  on  his  way  home  from  his  last  pilgrimage, 
where  he  had  done  Lstic  penance  by  being  draggei 
round  the  city  by  a  halter  by  one  of  his  servants 
while  a  second  scourged  his  naked  back,  both  being 
previously  bound  by  an  oath  to  do  his  wiU.  It 
would  be'interesting'to  know  what  impression  that 
remarkable  sight  made  on  the  Turks ! 

The  ABgevins  put  their  whole  heart  into  whatever 
they  did — when  they  sinned,  they  "  sinned  bravely  '" ; 
when  they  did  penance,  they  did  it  thoroughly. 
Such  was  the  ancestry  of  the  greatest  of  their  race 
who  wore  a  crown — Richard  Coeur  de  Lion.  In 
this  book  I  hope  to  sketeh  the  scenes  of  the  chief 
events  of  his  varied  hfe  which  touched  so  many  lands, 
and  in  pursuance  of  this  plan  I  must  first  ask  you, 
m,  reader,  to  Mow  me  to  medieval  Orford. 


CHAPTER  II 

EARLY   YEARS — THE   OXFORD   OF   THE   TWELFTH 

CENTURY 

Beaumont  Palace,  in  which  Richard  i.  was  born, 
stood  just  without  the  walls  of  the  city  of  Oxford  of 
that  day,  in  the  direction  of  the  Northern  Gate.  At 
that  time  it  was  still  known  as  the  new  palace,  having 
been  built  twenty-five  years  before  by  King  Henry  i., 
who  loved  learning,  and  was  attracted  by  the  society 
of  the  University,  which  already  existed  in  embryo.^ 
There  were  other  reasons  too  which  made  Oxford 
very  suitable  for  a  royal  residence.  Woodstock 
Park  was  near  for  the  enjoyment  of  the  chase,  and 
under  the  command  of  Robert  D'Oily,  the  governor 
appointed  by  the  Conqueror  and  his  successors, 
Oxford  had  become  a  place  of  considerable  mihtary 
importance — its  natural  defences  of  encircling  water- 
ways having  been  strengthened  by  fortified  walls 
and  a  moat. 

Within  the  walls,  side  by  side  with  the  scholars; 
attracted  by  the  fame  of  the  monastery  of  St. 
Frideswide,  Hved  the  busy  prosperous  burghers — 
just  as  "  toun  and  goun  "  Uve  side  by  side  to-day. 

^  "  Herein  it  was,"  says  Anthony  k  Wood,  "  that  King  Henry  i., 
for  the  great  pleasure  of  the  seat,  the  sweetness  and  delectableness 
of  the  air,  especially  for  the  sake  of  the  University  being  much  given 
to  learning  and  philosophy,  built  a  palace  for  him  arid  his  retinue/' 


16 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


The  town  had  its  merchants'  guilds,  and  according 
to  the  ancient  charters  also  a  ''  gild  hall/' 

King  Henry  n.  was  absent  in  France  at  the  time 
of  the  birth  of  his  third  son,  and  Queen  Eleanor 
joined  him  in  Gaul  before  her  infant  son  was 
many  months  old,  so  Richard  early  in  life  became 
a  traveller. 

Old  chroniclers  tell  Uttle  of  his  childhood,  but 
though  spent  mostly  in  France  it  must  have  often 
been  varied  by  visits  to  his  birthplace,  for  we  know 
that  the  Court  of  Henry  ii.  often  visited  Oxford. 
For  playmates  he  had  his  elder  brother  Henry,  his 
sister  Matilda,  and  his  half-brother  Geoffrey,  some 
four  years  older  than  himself,  who  was  brought  up 
at  Court  with  the  King's  legitimate  children,  as  well 
as  a  young  brother  of  the  same  name;  the  three 
youngest  children,  being  some  years  younger,  would 
hardly  be  companions  for  him.    Very  likely  Richard's 
youth  was  somewhat  embittered,  and  the  foundation 
of  his  later  quarrels  with  his  father  laid,  by  the 
preference   Henry  showed   for  his  half-brother — a 
preference  naturally  resented  by  Eleanor.    Nor  did 
it  mend  matters  that  this   preference  was  trans- 
ferred in  later  years  to  the  baby  John — Richard 
still  remained  out  in  the  cold,  and  grew  up  with  a 
sense  of  injury — the  home  influences  of  childhood, 
when  character  is   forming,  were  all  against  him, 
and  under  them  he  hardened,  so  that  in  later  hfe 
he  was  capable  of  such  a  terrible  deed  as  the  massacre 
of  the  Moslem  prisoners  at  Acre.    Those  were  days, 
moreover,   in   which   men   counted   barbarism  for 
righteousness   if   directed   towards   unbehevers.    A 
tale  that  is  told  of  what  happened  to  some  foreign 
refugees  in  Oxford — a  centre  of  culture  and  learning 


j( 


THE  OXFORD  OF  THE  TWELFTH  CENTURY     17 

even  then,  where  less  barbarous  manners  might  have 
been  expected— illustrates  the  spirit  of  the  age. 

A  party  of  Germans,  upward  of  thirty  in  number, 
had  found  their  way  to  the  university  town.    We 
are  told  they  were  ''  unlettered  persons,  rustic  but 
blameless  in  their  demeanour,  and  could  only  speak 
their  native  tongue."    Their  leader  or  pastor,  one 
named  Gerrard,  alone  possessed  some  learning,  and 
they  met  together  for  prayer  in  the  manner  of  the 
Waldenses.    Soon  it  was  rumoured  that  they  were 
members  of  some  foreign  sect,  and  without  more  ado 
all  were  thrown  into  prison  till  they  could  be  examined 
by  a  council  of  Bishops.    As  they  denied  the  doctrine 
of   transubstantiation,  and    their  leader   remained 
unconvinced  by  arg|ument,  they  were  pronounced 
heretics,  and  the  Bishops  gave  them  over  to  the 
King  to  be  punished.      "King  Henry  then  com- 
manded the  mark  of  heretical  infamy  to  be  burnt 
into  their  foreheads,  and  then,  the  people  looking 
on,  to  be  beaten  out  of  the  city,  strictly  forbidding 
every  one  to  presume  to  take  them  into  his  house, 
or   to   cherish    them   with    any   consolation.    The 
sentence  was  pronounced.     They  were  led  away  to 
undergo  that  most  righteous  penalty,  and  went  with 
no  Ungering  steps."    Their  teacher  walked  before 
them,  and  sang  as  he  went,  "  Beati  estis  cum  vos 
oderent    homines "—"  Blessed    are   ye    when   men 
hate    you."  ..."  Then    that    hateful    company, 
having  their  foreheads  branded,  were  subjected  to  a 
just  severity  :    he  who  held  the  first  place  among 
them  as  their  teacher  had  the  burning  iron  appKed 
to  him  on  the  forehead  and  on  the  chin  also,  sustain- 
ing disgrace  twofold.    Tearing  off  their  garments 
down  to  the  waist,  they  flogged  them  publicly; 


m 


il(i 


K:; 


18 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


and  thus,  driven  out  of  the  city  with  heavy,  sounding 
stripes,  these  persons  perished  through  excessive 
cold — ^for  it  was  winter — ^no  one  showing  them  the 
least  pity/* 

Nor  did  the  least  pity  move  the  heart  of  the 
bigoted  chronicler  who  has  painted  for  us  this  pictmre 
of  the  savagery  of  twelfth-century  "  Christians." 
If  such  were  the  churchmen  of  that  day,  what  could 
be  expected  of  princes  and  nobles,  whose  business 
was  war  ? 

Always  ecclesiastical,  as  well  as  intellectual,  Oxford 
possessed,  even  in  those  days,  many  churches ;  three 
of  these  still  existing  are  of  special  interest — St. 
Mary  the  Virgin,  now  the  University  Church,  St. 
Mary  Magdalene,  without  the  walls  (in  whose  parish 
Beaumont  Palace  stood,  and  which,  as  I  mentioned 
in  my  preface,  still  commemorates  in  its  parish  seal, 
by  the  device  of  the  Crescent  and  the  Cross,  the 
memory  of  its  greatest  parishioner,  who  was  doubtless 
there  baptized),  and  St.  Michael's,  whose  hoary  tower 
is  yet  a  prominent  object  in  the  Cornmarket,  and 
whose  churchyard  was  to  medieval  Oxford  what 
the  Forum  was  to  Rome,  a  meeting-place  where  the 
general  assembly  of  the  citizens  was  held. 

The  illustration  I  have  obtained  of  a  fragment 
of  Beaumont  is  from  a  drawing  made  in  1774,  but 
the  ruins  were  still  standing  when  Queen  Victoria 
came  to  the  throne,  and  a  small  roofless  apartment, 
6  yards  by  8,  and  13  feet  high,  with  the  ruins  of  an 
open  hearth,  had  the  testimony  of  tradition  as  the 
chamber  in  which  Coeur  de  Lion  first  saw  the  hght. 
An  old  writing  says,  "  It  then  exhibited  an  admirable 
specimen  of  the  mutabiUty  of  all  worldly  matters,  for 
from  a  royal  palace  it  was  converted  to  a  hog-stye.'" 


Pi 


w 


X 
H 


U    r; 


O    « 


c/3    m 


X 
H 


< 

< 

< 
O 


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H 

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> 

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< 


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Pi 
< 
X 
u 

NX 

PH 

o 

1-4 

X 

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fa 
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en    _ 

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I— I     "^ 

Pi 

< 


0^ 

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u 

X 
u 


Pi    w 


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Q 
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Pi 
O 

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I— ( 

fa 
O 


o 
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Pi 
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u 


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ir> 


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<    Q 


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P<S 
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u 

t— I 

fa 
o 

H 

fa 

fa 


18 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


and  thus,  driven  out  of  the  city  with  heavy,  sounding 
stripes,  these  persons  perished  througY  excessiv! 
cold — ^for  it  was  winter — ^no  one  showing  them  the 
least  pity." 

Nor  did  the  least  pity  move  the  heart  of  the 
bigoted  chronicler  who  has  painted  for  us  this  picture 
of  the  savagery  of  twelfth-century  "  Christians/* 
If  such  were  the  churchmen  of  that  day,  what  could 
be  expected  of  princes  and  nobles,  whose  business 
was  war? 

Always  ecclesiastical,  as  weD  as  inteflectual,  Oxford 
possessed,  even  in  those  days,  many  churches ;  three 
of  these  still  existing  are  of  special  interest — St. 
Mary  the  Virgin,  now  the  University  Church,  St. 
Mary  Magdalene,  without  the  walls  (in  whose  parish 
Beaumont  Palace  stood,  and  which,  as  I  mentioned 
in  my  preface,  still  commemorates  in  its  parish  seal, 
by  the  device  of  the  Crescent  and  the  Cross,  the 
memory  of  its  greatest  parishioner,  who  was  doubtless 
there  baptized),  and  St.  Michael's,  whose  hoary  tower 
is  yet  a  prominent  object  in  the  Cornmarket,  and 
whose  churchyard  was  to  medieval  Oxford  what 
the  Forum  was  to  Rome,  a  meeting-place  where  the 
general  assembly  of  the  citizens  was  held. 

The  illustration  I  have  obtained  of  a  fragment 
of  Beaumont  is  from  a  drawing  made  in  1774,  but 
the  ruins  were  still  standing  when  Queen  Victoria 
came  to  the  throne,  and  a  small  roofless  apartment, 
6  yards  by  8,  and  13  feet  high,  with  the  ruins  of  an 
open  hearth,  had  the  testimony  of  tradition  as  the 
chamber  in  which  Coeur  de  Lion  first  saw  the  hght. 
An  old  writing  says,  "  It  then  exhibited  an  admirable 
specunen  of  the  mutability  of  all  worldly  matters,  for 
from  a  royal  palace  it  was  converted  to  a  hog-stye." 


Q    ^ 
g    w 

o    « 
^  u 

I— t 

^   w 

i  ^ 

c    > 

< 
m 

H 
< 

^  2 
.  *^ 


H 

H 

O 
> 

o 


Pi 


Q 

< 
u 

Pi 
o 

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Pi 

< 


C/3 

o 

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Pi 
< 


<5 

o 
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a:    w 

f-H         *^ 

5^    w 


H 
Q 

< 


o 

en 

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I— 1 

b 

o 


o 
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a: 
u 

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s 
o 

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H 
Pi 
< 
Q 

O 
Z 

o 

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X 
H 

hi 
O 

ifi 

'dm 

< 


Q 
U 


ir> 


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ON 


H 
Pi 
O 
Ah 


O 

o 

z 


W 
X 
H 

H 
<J 
(IS 
O 


o 

Pi 


Q 

< 
X 
u 


o 

H 

W 


#1 


THE  OXFORD  OF  THE  TWELFTH  CENTURY     21 

Far  pleasanter  is  it  to  recall  the  new  palace  in 
the  fields  of  Beaumont,  as  it  was  in  its  palmy  days 
when  Eleanor  of  Aquitaine  there  gave  birth  to 
her  famous  son.  One  can  imagine  it  at  that  period 
surrounded  by  green  meadows,  intersected  by  clear 
streams,  looking  across  the  Broken  Hayse  (a  name 
which  has  but  recently  vanished  into  the  limbo  of 
the  past  with  the  rechristening  of  a  street)  to  the 
strong  fortress  of  Oxford  Castle,  with  its  memories  of 
the  great  siege  and  Matilda's  dramatic  escape  across 
the  frozen  Thames  still  fresh  in  men's  memories. 


I' 


CHAPTER   III 


RICHARD   IN   AQUITAINE — FAMILY    QUARRELS 


Op  the  first  seventeen  years  of  Coeur  de  Lion's  life 
but  little  is  known,  though  we  hear  of  his  corona- 
tion at  the  tender  age  of  thirteen  as  Duke  of  Aqui- 
taine.  His  father,  King  Henry  ii.,  had  discovered 
that  the  country  of  the  Troubadours  was  by  no  means 
an  easy  one  to  govern,  that  its  hot-blooded  people, 
used  to  rulers  who  were  "  the  boldest  knights,  the 
gayest  Troubadours,  and  the  most  reckless  adven- 
turers in  their  duchy,''  did  not  take  kindly  to  a 
foreign  prince  of  more  practical  and  businesslike 
character.  Possibly  his  astute  queen,  who  knew  the 
people  of  her  native  land,  suggested  that  their  ardent 
nature  would  respond  to  the  idea  of  a  prince  who, 
if  not  born  in  Aquitaine,  had  the  blood  of  the 
Troubadour  Dukes  in  his  veins^  and  should  be  trained 
from  infancy  to  his  office. 

Richard,  however,  was  never  quite  en  rapport 
with  his  Proven9al  subjects,  and,  though  he  speedily 
reduced  his  turbulent  kingdom  to  order  and  ruled 
with  justice,  he  made  himself  more  feared  than 
loved.  He  was  only  partially  a  son  of  the  South, 
for  he  possessed  an  iron  will  that  recalled  his  Norman 
ancestor  Wilham  the  Conqueror. 

An  authority  on  Angevin  history  has  said,  "  The 
Coeur  de  Lion  of  tradition,  indeed — the  adventurous 


RICHARD  IN  AQUITAINE 


23 


crusader,  the  mirror  of  knightly  prowess  and  knightly 
courtesy,  the  lavish  patron  of  verse  and  song,  the 
ideal  king  of  Troubadours  and  knights-errant — ^looks 
at  first  glance  hke  the  very  incarnation  of  the  spirit 
of  the  South."  But  it  was  only  in  the  intellectual 
part  of  his  nature  that  his  southern  blood  made  itself 
felt  —  the  real  groundwork  of  his  character  was 
made  of  sterner  stuff.  .  .  .  His  gigantic  strength, 
"  held  in  check  though  it  was  by  a  constantly  re- 
curring ague  which  kept  him  fearless,  in  a  tremor  as 
continual  as  that  in  which  he  kept  the  rest  of  the 
world,"  his  blue  eyes  and  golden  hair — all  proclaimed 
him  a  child  of  the  North,"  ^  and  in  his  consummate 
seamanship  shown  on  his  voyage  to  the  East  he 
displayed  a  Viking  strain. 

The  Aquitaine  of  the  Middle  Ages,  to  which  this 
young  ruler  came  at  an  age  when  boys  nowadays 
are  at  school,  lay  along  the  shores  of  the  Bay  of  Biscay 
and  stretched  from  the  river  Loire  in  the  north  to 
the  Pyrenees  in  the  south.  It  was  a  rich  and  pros- 
perous country,  famous  throughout  France  for  its 
vineyards — well  wooded,  and,  as  its  name  impHes, 
"  a  land  of  many  waters,"  abundant  in  springs, 
rivers,  and  streams. 

Poitiers,  its  capital,  "  a  city  set  on  a  hill "  com- 
manding the  surrounding  plain,  has  a  history  which 
goes  back  till  it  is  lost  in  the  myths  of  antiquity, 
and  a  legend  relates  that  when  JuHus  Caesar  invaded 
Britain  the  people  of  Poitiers  were  his  alHes.  In 
the  second  century  the  city  was  of  such  importance 
in  the  Roman  Empire  that  during  the  reign  of  the 
Emperor  Marcus  AureUus  an  amphitheatre  was 
built  there  to  hold  twenty-two  thousand  spectators. 

^  The  Angevin  Empire^  by  Kate  Norgate,  vol.  ii.  p.  447, 


24 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


tot 


± 


Those  famous  saints  and  fathers  of  the  Church, 
St.  Hilary  and  his  pupil,  Saint  Martin  of  Tours,  both 
dwelt  at  Poitiers  in  the  fourth  century,  and  the  story 
of  St.  Athanasius  is  connected  with  the  capital  of  the 
once  great  country  of  Aquitaine.  It  has  memories 
of  the  great  rout  of  the  Saracens,  who  poured  in  from 
Spain  four  hundred  thousand  strong,  and  were  here 
for  ever  driven  out  of  France,  leaving  three  hundred 
thousand  slain  after  their  great  defeat  at  the  hands 
of  the  famous  Charles  Martel,  the  ancestor  of  the 
Emperor  Charlemagne,  whose  army  included  the 
troops  of  France,  Burgundy,  Austria,  and  Germany. 

And  yet  to-day  Poitiers  is  Uttle  visited,  even  by 
those  interested  in  ancient  cities  and  medieval 
history.  Though  about  half-way  between  Paris  and 
Bordeaux,  and  not,  therefore,  in  point  of  situation 
off  the  beaten  Une  of  travel,  it  is  but  Httle  known 
to  tourists.  One  of  the  few  Enghsh  writers  who 
knows  anjiihing  of  Aquitaine  says  of  Poitiers,  that 
in  no  city  of  so  small  a  compass,  have  so  many  events 
of  the  greatest  historical  importance  and  interest 
occurred.  "  The  very  air  of  the  place  is  full  to  over- 
flowing of  visions  of  the  past.  .  .  ."  And  not  the 
least  interesting  of  its  memories  are  those  associated 
with  the  long  Une  of  Dukes  of  Aquitaine  to  whose 
inheritance  Coeur  de  Lion  succeeded. 

When,  on  the  death  of  his  elder  brother  Prince 
Henry,  Richard  became  heir  to  the  throne  of  England 
he  was  summoned  by  his  father  (whose  wish  to  settle 
the  affairs  of  his  wide  dominions,  in  such  a  way  that 
his  sons  could  not  quarrel  over  their  partition  after 
his  death,  only  resulted  in  precipitating  family 
feuds  in  his  lifetime)  to  give  up  Aquitaine  to  his 
younger  brother  John,  but  the  idea  of  exchanging 


FAMILY  QUARRELS 


25 


the  position  of  actual  ruler,  which  he  had  fought  for 
during  eight  years,  for  that  of  an  heir-apparent 
without  lands  or  power  did  not  appeal  to  Richard's 
proud  nature. 

After  first  demanding  time  to  consider  the  matter, 
and  returning  to  his  capital  of  Poitiers,  he  sent  a 
message  to  his  father  that  while  he  hved  he  would 
not  give  up  Aquitaine. 

Negotiations  followed  that  lasted  for  months, 
till  King  Henry  gave  permission  to  his  younger  son 
John  to  try  and  take  Aquitaine  from  his  brother 
by  force  of  arms,  and  in  this  raid  John  was  joined  by 
Geoffrey,  whose  domain  of  Normandy  was  in  turn 
invaded  by  Richard  in  retahation.  Apparently 
the  unseemUness  of  this  fraternal  strife,  which  he 
had  himself  encouraged,  at  last  dawned  on  Henry,  and 
he  summoned  all  three  sons  to  England,  where  a 
reconcihation  took  place,  after  which  John  was  sent 
to  govern  Ireland.  On  this  occasion — one  of  the 
few  visits  of  Coeur  de  Lion  to  the  land  of  his  birth 
that  has  been  chronicled — Richard  stayed  to  keep 
the  Christmas  festival  with  his  parents  at  Windsor. 

Peace,  however,  never  lasted  long  among  the 
Angevins ;  and  a  few  months  later  another  quarrel 
broke  out,  and  Richard  was  again  summoned  to 
give  up  Aquitaine,  but  this  time  to  his  mother. 
Queen  Eleanor,  and  to  her  he  yielded.  The  history 
of  Aquitaine  and  the  other  Angevin  dominions  in 
France  during  King  Henry's  reign  is  one  compUcated 
story  of  intrigue  and  bbodshed^in  which  it  is  most 
difficult  to  solve  the  question  as  to  who  was  the 
aggressor  and  who  the  aggrieved,  and  what  justifica- 
tion Richard  had  for  uniting  with  the  King  of 
France  against  Henry.    Foremost  among  those  who 


24 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


E?. 


Those  famous  saints  and  fathers  of  the  Church, 
St.  Hilary  and  his  pupil,  Saint  Martin  of  Tours,  both 
dwelt  at  Poitiers  in  the  fourth  century,  and  the  story 
of  St.  Athanasius  is  connected  with  the  capital  of  the 
once  great  country  of  Aquitaine.  It  has  memories 
of  the  great  rout  of  the  Saracens,  who  poured  in  from 
Spain  four  hundred  thousand  strong,  and  were  here 
for  ever  driven  out  of  France,  leaving  three  hundred 
thousand  slain  after  their  great  defeat  at  the  hands 
of  the  famous  Charles  Martel,  the  ancestor  of  the 
Emperor  Charlemagne,  whose  army  included  the 
troops  of  France,  Burgundy,  Austria,  and  Germany. 

And  yet  to-day  Poitiers  is  little  visited,  even  by 
those  interested  in  ancient  cities  and  medieval 
history.  Though  about  half-way  between  Paris  and 
Bordeaux,  and  not,  therefore,  in  point  of  situation 
ojffi  the  beaten  line  of  travel,  it  is  but  Httle  known 
to  tourists.  One  of  the  few  EngHsh  writers  who 
knows  anything  of  Aquitaine  says  of  Poitiers,  that 
in  no  city  of  so  small  a  compass,  have  so  many  events 
of  the  greatest  historical  importance  and  interest 
occurred.  "  The  very  air  of  the  place  is  full  to  over- 
flowing of  visions  of  the  past.  .  .  "  And  not  the 
least  interesting  of  its  memories  are  those  associated 
with  the  long  line  of  Dukes  of  Aquitaine  to  whose 
inheritance  Coeur  de  Lion  succeeded. 

When,  on  the  death  of  his  elder  brother  Prince 
Henry,  Richard  became  heir  to  the  throne  of  England 
he  was  summoned  by  his  father  (whose  wish  to  settle 
the  affairs  of  his  wide  dominions,  in  such  a  way  that 
his  sons  could  not  quarrel  over  their  partition  after 
his  death,  only  resulted  in  precipitating  family 
feuds  in  his  lifetime)  to  give  up  Aquitaine  to  his 
younger  brother  John,  but  the  idea  of  exchanging 


FAMILY  QUARRELS 


25 


the  position  of  actual  ruler,  which  he  had  fought  for 
during  eight  years,  for  that  of  an  heir-apparent 
without  lands  or  power  did  not  appeal  to  Richard's 
proud  nature. 

After  first  demanding  time  to  consider  the  matter, 
and  returning  to  his  capital  of  Poitiers,  he  sent  a 
message  to  his  father  that  while  he  Uved  he  would 
not  give  up  Aquitaine. 

Negotiations  followed  that  lasted  for  months, 
till  King  Henry  gave  permission  to  his  younger  son 
John  to  try  and  take  Aquitaine  from  his  brother 
by  force  of  arms,  and  in  this  raid  John  was  joined  by 
Geoffrey,  whose  domain  of  Normandy  was  in  turn 
invaded  by  Richard  in  retaUation.  Apparently 
the  unseemUness  of  this  fraternal  strife,  which  he 
had  himself  encouraged,  at  last  dawned  on  Henry,  and 
he  summoned  all  three  sons  to  England,  where  a 
reconcihation  took  place,  after  which  John  was  sent 
to  govern  Ireland.  On  this  occasion — one  of  the 
few  visits  of  Coeur  de  Lion  to  the  land  of  his  birth 
that  has  been  chronicled — Richard  stayed  to  keep 
the  Christmas  festival  with  his  parents  at  Windsor. 

Peace,  however,  never  lasted  long  among  the 
Angevins ;  and  a  few  months  later  another  quarrel 
broke  out,  and  Richard  was  again  summoned  to 
give  up  Aquitaine,  but  this  time  to  his  mother. 
Queen  Eleanor,  and  to  her  he  yielded.  The  history 
of  Aquitaine  and  the  other  Angevin  dominions  in 
France  during  King  Henry's  reign  is  one  compKcated 
story  of  intrigue  and  bloodshed,  in  which  it  is  most 
difficult  to  solve  the  question  as  to  who  was  the 
aggressor  and  who  the  aggrieved,  and  what  justifica- 
tion Richard  had  for  uniting  with  the  King  of 
France  against  Henry.    Foremost  among  those  who 


i 


Ri 


!s' 


26 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


fomented  the  quarrel  between  father  and  son  and 
brother  and  brother  was  the  Troubadour,  Betrand  de 
Bom,  *'  the  prince  of  mischief-makers,"  who  used  his 
talents  as  a  verse-maker  to  blow  the  smouldering 
embers  of  rebeUion  in  which  to  warm  himself, 
and  **  meddled  fearlessly  in  high  poUtics  to  per- 
petuate the  chaos  out  of  which  he  made  renown 

and  profit/' 

This  is  the  period  of  Coeur  de  Lion's  history  which 
those  who  love  the  memory  of  his  **  Uon-hearted  " 
courage  and  generosity  would  willingly  pass  over ; 
the  picture  of  the  old  and  broken  King  flying  from 
his  beloved  native  city  of  Lc  Mans,  pursued  by  his 
gon  and  his  ally,  the  King  of  France,  is  not  a  pleasant 
one.  There  is  a  story  told  of  how  William  the 
Marshal,  who  had  once  taken  up  arms  for  Prince 
Henry  against  his  father,  now  atoned  for  his  former 
disloyalty  by  covering  the  King's  retreat,  so  that 
Richard,  riding  unarmed  in  full  pursuit  of  his  father, 
was  stopped  by  the  point  of  the  Marshal's  spear. 
"  Slay  me  not  for  I  have  no  hauberk !  "  cried  Richard. 
"  Slay  you  !  No,  but  I  hope  the  Devil  may ! "  retorted 
WiUiam,  plunging  the  spear  into  the  rider's  horse 
and  thus  stopping  the  chase. 

A  small-minded  man  would  have  avenged  the 
frank  expression  of  such  sentimente  against  his 
person,  when  the  time  came  shortly  aft^r  that  the 
Marshal  was  in  his  power ;  but  Richard  nevjciJaore 
malice,  and  when  by  his  father's  death  he  became 
King  of  England,  and  the  Marshal  naturally  expected 
to  feel  the  weight  of  the  royal  displeasure  in  the  loss 
of  his  lands  and  ofiBce,  Richard  freely  forgave  him. 
Tradition  saj^,  that  wheo  after  King  Henry's  death 
Coeur  de  Lion  stood  by  his  father's  dead  body,  those 


FAMILY  QUARRELS 


27 


standing  by  saw  a  dark  stream  of  blood  ooze  from 
the  nostrils  of  the  corpse,  an  incident  woven  into 
a  stirring  romance  which  centres  in  the  history  of 
King  Richard.i  it  was  the  medieval  beUef  that  thus 
the  dead  who  fell  by  another's  hand  pointed  out  the 
murderer,  and  this  story  was  probably  perpetuated, 
if  not  invented,  by  Richard's  enemies— not  improb- 
ably by  his  mean-spirited  brother  John,  to  suggest 
that  the  unfilial  son  was  morally  responsible  for  his 
parent's  death;  though  impartial  historians  find 
ahnost  equal  faults  on  both  sides  which  brought 
about  the  tragic  end. 

The  story  of  Richard's  reconciliation  with  his 
father's  faithful  knight,  is  so  beautifully  told  by  a 
writer  who  has  made  a  special  study  of  the  Angcvins 
that  I  quote  it  here  :  "  The  dead  King  lay  in  state 
in  the  abbey  church  of  Fontevraud,  fulfilling  the 
prophecy  that  he  should  be  '  shrouded  among  the 
shrouded  women,'  for  the  nuns  knelt  day  and  night 
around  hi.s  bier.  None  of  the  dead  King's  friends 
had  thought  it  necessary  to  wait  for  any  instructions 
from  his  heir.  The  Marshal,  however,  had  sent  to 
apprise  Richaitl  of  his  father's  death,  and  delayed 
the  funeral  long  enough  to  give  him  an  opportunity 
of  attending  it  if  he  cho«e  to  do  so.  'file  other 
barons  were  in  great  dread  of  meeting  their  future 
King,  against  whom  they  had  been  in  aims ;  and 
several  of  them  were  even  more  anxious  for  the 
Marijhal  than  for  themselves,  for  they  oouW  not  but 
imagine  that  vengeance  would  faU  upon  the  man 
who  had  unhorsed  and  all  but  knlled  King  Richard 
at  Le  Mans.  More  than  one  of  them  offered  to  place 
himself  and  all  his  possessions  at  the  service  of  the 

»  Riekard  Yea  amd  Say,  by  MMfioe  HoTikti. 


» 


28 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


I 


'tXlt 

■i 
.1 


comrade  whom  they  all  held  in  such  reverence, 
if  thereby  anything  could  be  done  to  save  him  from 
Richard's  wrath.  But  he  only  answered  quietly, 
*  Sirs,  I  do  not  repent  me  of  what  I  did.  I  thank 
you  for  your  proffers  ;  but,  so  help  me,  God,  I  will  not 
accept  what  I  cannot  return.  Thanks  be  to  Him, 
He  has  helped  me  ever  since  I  was  made  a  knight ; 
I  doubt  not  He  will  help  me  to  the  end/ 

''  Before  nightfall  Richard  overtook  the  train  of 
mourners.  He  came,  it  seems,  alone.  Vainly  did  the 
bystanders  seek  to  read  his  f eeUngs  in  his  demeanour, 
he  showed  no  sign  of  either  grief  or  joy,  penitence  or 
wrath  ;  he  *  spoke  not  a  word,  good  or  bad,"  but  went 
straight  to  the  church  and  into  the  choir  where  the 
body  lay.  For  awhile  he  stood  motionless  before  the 
bier,  then  he  stepped  to  the  head  and  looked  down  at 
the  uncovered  face.  It  seemed  to  meet  his  gaze  with 
all  its  wonted  sternness ;  but  there  were  some  who 
thought  they  saw  a  yet  more  fearful  sight — a,  stream 
of  blood  which  flowed  from  the  nostrils  and  ceased 
only  on  the  departure  of  the  son,  who  was  thus 
proclaimed  as  his  father's  murderer.  Richard  sank 
upon  his  knees  ;  thus  he  remained  about '  as  long  as 
one  would  take  to  say  the  Lord's  Prayer,'  then  he 
rose  and,  speaking  for  the  first  time,  called  for  WilUam 
the  Marshal.  WiUiam  came,  accompanied  by  a 
loyal  Angevin  baron,  Maurice  of  Craon.  Richard 
bade  them  follow  him  out  of  the  church ;  outside, 
he  turned  at  once  to  the  Marshal :  '  Fair  Sir  Marshal, 
you  had  like  to  have  slain  me,  had  I  received  your 
spear  thrust  it  would  have  been  a  bad  day  for  both 
of  us !  *  *  My  lord,*  answered  William,  '  I  had  it 
in  my  power  to  slay  you ;  I  only  slew  your  horse. 
And  of  that  I  do  not  repent  me  yet/ 


o 

< 

Pi 

Q 


*5 

o 

oi 


U 


Q 
O    - 

u 

< 


5?: 

o 


o 

B 

C4 


28 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


comrade  whom  they  all  held  in  such  reverence, 
if  thereby  anything  could  be  done  to  save  him  from 
Richard's  wrath.  But  he  only  answered  quietly, 
*  Sirs,  I  do  not  repent  me  of  what  I  did.  I  thank 
you  for  your  proffers  ;  but,  so  help  me,  God,  I  will  not 
accept  what  I  cannot  return.  Thanks  be  to  Him, 
He  has  helped  me  ever  since  I  was  made  a  knight ; 
I  doubt  not  He  will  help  me  to  the  end/ 

''  Before  nightfall  Richard  overtook  the  train  of 
mourners.  He  came,  it  seems,  alone.  Vainly  did  the 
bystanders  seek  to  read  his  feeUngs  in  his  demeanour, 
he  showed  no  sign  of  either  grief  or  joy,  penitence  or 
wrath  ;  he '  spoke  not  a  word,  good  or  bad,'  but  went 
straight  to  the  church  and  into  the  choir  where  the 
body  lay.  For  awhile  he  stood  motionless  before  the 
bier,  then  he  stepped  to  the  head  and  looked  down  at 
the  uncovered  face.  It  seemed  to  meet  his  gaze  with 
all  its  wonted  sternness ;  but  there  were  some  who 
thought  they  saw  a  yet  more  fearful  sight — a  stream 
of  blood  which  flowed  from  the  nostrils  and  ceased 
only  on  the  departure  of  the  son,  who  was  thus 
proclaimed  as  his  father's  murderer.  Richard  sank 
upon  his  knees  ;  thus  he  remained  about '  as  long  as 
one  would  take  to  say  the  Lord's  Prayer,'  then  he 
rose  and,  speaking  for  the  first  time,  called  for  WiUiam 
the  Marshal.  WilHam  came,  accompanied  by  a 
loyal  Angevin  baron,  Maurice  of  Craon.  Richard 
bade  them  follow  him  out  of  the  church  ;  outside, 
he  turned  at  once  to  the  Marshal :  '  Fair  Sir  Marshal, 
you  had  like  to  have  slain  me,  had  I  received  your 
spear  thrust  it  would  have  been  a  bad  day  for  both 
of  us ! '  'My  lord,'  answered  William,  '  I  had  it 
in  my  power  to  slay  you ;  I  only  slew  your  horse. 
And  of  that  I  do  not  repent  me  yet/ 


i 


■J 


c 


> 

a: 
p 


y.     - 

—     I- 

I- 


'J^      A 


o    -: 


y. 


r. 

y. 


FAMILY  QUARRELS 


31 


"  With  kingly  dignity  Richard  granted  him  his 
kingly  pardon  at  once,  and  on  the  morrow  they  stood 
side  by  side  while  Henry  Fitz-Empress  was  laid  in 
his  grave  before  the  high  altar  by  Archbishop 
Bartholomew  of  Tours/' 


i 


'U 


CHAPTER   IV 


I 


RICHARD   AND   HIS   MOTHER— THE   CORONATION   AND 
PREPARATIONS   FOR   THE   CRUSADE 

One  of  the  finest  features  of  Richard's  character 
was  his  devotion  to  his  mother.  His  first  thought 
as  King  was  to  release  her  from  the  virtual  im- 
prisonment at  Winchester,  in  which  his  father  had 
placed  her,  and  to  vindicate  her  position  by  appoint- 
ing her  Queen  Regent  in  his  absence  in  France.  Very 
graciously  and  wisely  he  selected  for  this  mission 
the  man  he  had  magnanimously  forgiven,  William 
the  Marshal,  once  his  enemy,  now  his  most  faithful 
servant.  Queen  Eleanor  rose  to  the  occasion  and 
proved  hersulf  worthy  of  her  son's  love  and  trust 
by  the  noble  use  she  made  of  her  authority  and  her 
faithfuhiess  to  him,  which  was  in  striking  contrast 
to  her  conduct  in  that  period  of  her  life  when  she  had 
been  suspected  and  treated  with  harshness  both  by 
her  first  husband,  the  King  of  France,  and  her  second 
husband,  the  King  of  England.  Thus  she  proved 
the  golden  rule  that  to  beheve  in  any  one  is  to  call 
out  the  best  that  is  in  them.  Eleanor  made  a  royal 
progress  through  England,  setting  free  all  prisoners 
who  had  been  confined  under  the  harsh  game  laws, 
which  had  been  cruelly  enforced  in  her  husband's 

reign,  and  directing  the  prisoners  she  released  to 

0% 


RICHARD  AND  HIS  MOTHER 


33 


pray  for  his  soul.  Those  also  she  released  who  "  had 
been  seized  by  the  King's  arbitrary  commands  and 
were  not  accused  by  their  hundred  or  county."  Like 
her  son,  she  freely  forgave  all  those  who  had  plotted 
against  her,  and  laid  a  foundation  of  loyalty  to 
him  before  he  reached  his  native  shores^  by  going 
personally  from  city  to  city  to  see  that  justice  was 
done  "  even  to  the  lowest,"  while  she  ordained  that 
"  every  freeman  of  the  whole  kingdom  should  swear 
that  he  would  bear  faith  to  his  lord  Richard." 

Meanwhile,  Coeur  de  Lion,  having  been  absolved 
from  the  excommunication  laid  upon  him  by  the 
Church,  for  taking  up  arms  against  a  brother  crusader, 
had  been  installed  as  Duke  of  Normandy  in  Rouen 
Cathedral,  and  received  the  homage  of  the  Barons. 
His  brother  John,  with  whom  he  had  become  fully 
reconciled,  he  confirmed  in  his  estates  in  England 
and  as  governor  of  Mortain,  a  county  of  Normandy. 
His  half-brother  Geoffrey  the  Chancellor  he  appointed, 
as  his  father  would  have  wished.  Archbishop  of  York, 
and  thus  "  throughout  the  Angevin  dominions  not 
a  voice  was  raised  to  challenge  the  succession  of 
Richard." 

With  the  death  of  King  Henry,  Coeur  de  Lion's 
alUance  with  PhiHp  came  to  an  end.  He  was  now 
King  of  England,  and  to  thwart  the  Kings  of  England 
had  always  been  French  policy.  It  may  be  also 
that  remorse  for  his  share  in  his  father's  death  had 
come  to  him,  and  that  he  recognised  that  Phihp 
had  sown  the  seeds  of  dissension  between  them. 
Both  monarchs,  however,  having  taken  the  Cross, 
were  pledged  to  fight  side  by  side  in  the  Holy  Land, 
whatever  they  might  do  at  home ;  and  at  a  meeting 
at  Gisors  the  time  of  thek  departure  was  fixed  for 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


THE  CORONATION 


35 


the  spring  foflowing  Richard's  coronation,  which 
took  place  in  August  1189. 

This  ceremony  has  a  special  interest  for  us,  who 
have  so  recently  taken  part  in  the  celebrations  attend- 
ing the  Coronation  of  King  Greorge,  because,  while 
following  closely  the  original  rites  of  the  old  Saxon 
Bongs,  it  served  as  a  precedent  for  the  coronations  of 
all  the  Kings  of  England  who  followed.  Royal  and 
priestly  robes,  such  as  those  worn  by  the  Bong, 
the  four  officiating  Archbishops  of  Canterbury, 
Rouen,  Dublin,  and  Treves  on  this  occasion,  had 
never  before  been  seen  in  England ;  they  were 
the  introduction  of  Coeur  de  Lion's  beauty-loving 
sumptuous  mother,  who  had  copied  the  magnificence 
of  the  East,  with  which  her  early  crusading  experi- 
ences had  made  her  famihar,  and  the  King  also 
delighted  in  the  outward  forms  and  ceremonies  of 
royalty  and  all  that  made  for  splendid  pageantry. 
"  He  himself,  with  his  tall  figure,  massive  yet  finely 
chiselled  features,  and  soldierly  bearing,  must  have 
been  by  far  the  most  regal-looking  sovereign  who 
had  b^n  crowned  since  the  Norman  Conqueror; 
and  when  Archbishop  Baldwin  set  the  crown  upon 
his  golden  hair.  Englishmen  might  for  a  moment 
dream  that,  stranger  though  he  had  been  for  nearly 
thirty  years  to  the  land  of  his  birth,  Richard  was  yet 
to  be  in  reality  what  he  was  in  outward  aspect — a 
true  English  king."  ^ 

Coeur  de  Lion  was  crowned  in  Westminster 
Abbey  on  Sunday,  3rd  September  1189,  a  day, 
one  historian  points  out,  held  by  the  superstition 
of  the  time  to  be  one  of  the  Dies  Aegyptiaci, 
or  days  of  ill-omen  of  the  old  Egyptian  astrologers, 

1  The  Angevin  Empire,  by  Sir  J.  H.  Ramsay,  p.  266. 


on  which  no  business  should  be  undertaken.  Who 
knows  but  what  the  bondage  of  this  fear  of  ill- 
fortune  blasted  Richard's  reign  and  brought  about 
the  very  ills  foretold  ! 

Among  those  present  on  this  occasion  was  Alois, 
the  sister  of  the  King  of  France,  to  whom  Richard 
had  been  betrothed  from  childhood,  but  whom,  for 
reasons  some  of  which  reflect  gravely  on  his  father, 
but  are  given  differently  by  different  historians, 
he  was  so  loth  to  marry  that  the  engagement  was 
never  consummated. 

The  old  chroniclers  give  a  full  description  of  the 
Coronation  procession  from  the  King's  chamber  to 
the  Abbey  in  which  the  "  Duke  of  Normandy  "  and 
uncrowned  King  of  England  walked  beneath  a 
canopy  of  silk  supported  on  lances  borne  by  four 
Barons  of  the  Cinque  Ports  —  especially  of  the 
"  hallowing.''  ^ 

A  modem  writer  on  the  subject  2  says,  "  The  head 
received  a  special  anointing  with  chrism,  holy  oil 
mingled  with  balsam,  an  unguent  appointed  to  be 
used  only  at  baptism,  confirmation,  and  ordination. 
Its  use,  therefore,  at  the  hallowing  of  a  King  shows 
that  the  rite  was  reckoned  an  ordination."  Mass 
followed  the  ceremony,  and  the  crowned,  anointed 
King  communicated,  and  then,  "  wearing  his 
crown  and  carrying  sceptre  and  rod,  was  taken 
back  in  procession  to  his  apartments."  At  the 
banquet  which  followed  none  but  prelates  sat  at 
the  King's  table,  another  proof  of  the  sanctity  with 
which  the  kingly  office  was  regarded. 

Alas  for  all  this  fair  outward  show,  the  King  who 

1  Benediot*  ii.  82;  Hoveden,  iii.  10. 

*  The  Angemn  Empire,  by  Sir  J.  H.  Ramsay. 


I! 
I! 


■ 


I  ji 


■''ill 


36 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


had  just  sworn  by  God's  help  to  "  put  down  all 
injustice,  to  enforce  the  observance  of  righteousness 
and  mercy,"  failed  to  sufficiently  protect  the  Jews 
in  the  terrible  riot  which  occurred  in  the  night 
following  the  Coronation. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  it  had  its  rise  in  a  mis- 
understanding.   Richard,  who  had  very  strict  views 
about  Christian  observances,  had  given  orders  that 
no  Jew  should  be  admitted,  but  in  ignorance  of 
this,  some  rich  Hebrews  came  to  offer  him  gifts  and 
were  driven  away  and  roughly  handled,  first  by  the 
courtiers  and  then  by  the  people ;    some  one  eager 
for  plunder  took  the  occasion  of  spreading  the  report 
that  the  King  had  given  the  Jewish  quarter  up  to 
pillage ;  the  mob  fell  to,  and  the  homes  of  many  of 
these  unfortunate  people  were  burnt  to  the  ground 
and  their  synagogues  desecrated.    Some  few  persons 
were  punished  for  breaking  the  peace,  but  only  the 
perverted  view  of  the  time,  which  regarded  the 
Jews  like  the  Turks  as  outside  the  pale  of  Christian 
charity,  can  explain  the  laxity  of  the  law  on  this 
occasion,  and  to  modern  ideas  it  accords  strangely 
with  Richard's  often  deep  religious  feeUng  and  sense 
of  justice,   that   he  did  not  punish  the  offenders 
severely  who  first  broke  the  peace  of  his  reign. 

Moreover,  his  leniency  had  the  unfortunate  result, 
that  massacres  of  the  Jews  soon  followed  all  over 
England,  and  at  York  five  hundred  of  these  unfor- 
tunate people  perished,  many  by  their  own  hands, 
to  escape  their  Gentile  murderers.  It  seems  almost 
prophetic  of  a  King,  whom  we  associate  less  with 
the  sceptre  than  the  sword,  that  the  commencement 
of  his  reign  was  thus  baptized  with  blood. 

Richard's  heart  was  aheady  in  the  Holy  Land 


PREPARATIONS  FOR  THE  CRUSADE   37 

when  the  crown  of  England  was  placed  upon  his 
head.  He  had  been  the  first  of  all  European  princes 
to  take  the  Cross,  when  the  news  came  that  King 
Guy  of  Jerusalem  had  been  defeated  at  the  great 
battle  of  Tiberias  and  the  relic  of  the  Holy  Cross 
taken  by  the  infidels.  Three  months  later,  when 
still  graver  news  reached  Europe  of  the  fall  of 
Jerusalem,  he  had  made  preparations  for  an  im- 
mediate start  for  Palestine,  and  was  only  stopped 
by  a  rising  of  the  turbulent  barons  of  his  Dukedom 
of  Aquitaine. 

As  King  he  had  now  according  to  his  lights 
(which  placed  the  rescue  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre 
immeasurably  before  the  duties  nearer  home) 
nothing  to  detain  him,  and  if  he  had  any  scruples 
about  leaving  his  island  realm  so  soon,  and  for  so 
long  a  time,  they  were  quieted  by  the  proof  he  had 
had  of  his  mother's  abihty  to  govern  in  his  stead 
and  her  devotion  to  his  interests. 

His  brother  John  he  provided  employment  for  in 
his  absence,  to  keep  him  out  of  mischief,  by  making 
over  to  him,  with  their  revenues,  all  crown  rights  over 
Dorset,  Somerset,  Devon,  and  Cornwall,  besides  the 
shires  of  Derby  and  Gloucester  which  he  had  in  right 
of  his  wife.  John  was  already  the  first  Baron  of 
Normandy,  so  that  his  elder  brother  must  have 
reasonably  argued  that  even  his  ambition  must  be 
satisfied  by  the  honours  and  lands  showered  upon 
him. 

To  Richard's  crusading  ardour  any  means 
seemed  justifiable  to  obtain  supphes  for  the  Holy 
War! 

When  in  1187  the  Kings  of  England  and  France 
had  taken  the  Cross,  King  Henry  had  immediately 


'  „ '1 


''l"l 


IP"*"    p*!' 


ill 


38  RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 

issued  an  ordinance  known  as  the  Saladin  tithe,  by 

which  every  one  of  his  subjects  was  bound  to  pay 

a  tithe  (tenth  ?)  of  his  personal  property  towards 

the  expenses  of  the  crusade.    But  Richard  was  not 

content  with  this ;  he  wanted  wealth  at  his  command 

to  raise  such  an  army  as  should  astonish  Christendom, 

strike  terror  to  the  hearts  of  the  infidels,  and  carry  all 

before  it.    For  this  purpose  he  sold  indiscriminately 

to  the  highest  bidder  crown  rights,  crown  property, 

and  royal  favours— a  striking  instance  of  the  ills 

that  have  been  done  all  through  the  ages  in  the 

sacred  name  of  reUgion  and  given  the  unbeUevers 

occasion  to  blaspheme.    It  was  commonly  reported 

that  the  King  said  he  would  sell  London  if  he  could 

find  a  purchaser,  and  it  is  on  record  that  he  accepted 

£3000  from  his  half-brother  Geoffrey  as  the  price 

of  the  Archbishopric  of   York   and  renounced  the 

homage  due  from  the  King  of  Scotland  for  1000 

marks. 

Pope  Clement  in.  having  given  the  King  leave  to 
excuse  from  the  crusade  men  who  had  abeady 
taken  the  Cross,  but  were  required  for  the  govern- 
ment of  the  country,  Richard  obtained  large  sums 
from  those  who  were  desirous  of  being  bought  off 
and  at  the  same  time  installed  in  a  rich  royal  manor 
or  sheriffdom.  Many  had  taken  the  Cross  in  a 
fervour  of  reUgious  emotion,  who  somewhat  repented 
of  their  vow  in  cool  blood,  and,  moreover,  the  interest 
of  the  Western  world  in  the  recovery  of  the  Holy 
Sepulchre  was  not  what  it  had  been  a  hundred 
years  earlier,  when  30,000  men  fastened  the  Cross 
upon  their  shoulder  at  Clermont,  and  the  cry  "  God 
wills  it "  spread  from  thence  over  Europe. 

Nations,  like  men,  are  apt  to  turn  to  God  only  in 


STATUE  OF   RICHARD   I.   IN  OLD   PALACE   YARD,  WESTMINSTER. 

See  p.  22. 

From  an  original  photo  by  Otto  Holhack, 


I, 


PREPARATIONS  FOR  THE  CRUSADE        41 

extremity  and  become  unmindful  of  Him  when  all 
is  well.  The  first  crusade  had  its  rise  in  the  universal 
belief  in  the  coming  of  the  end  of  the  world  at  the 
close  of  the  first  thousand  years  of  our  era.  Fearful 
calamities  confirmed  the  superstitions  in  this  behef . 
"  A  dreadful  pestilence  made  Aquitaine  a  desert. 
From  the  East  to  Greece,  Italy,  France,  and  England 
famine  prevailed.  Many  were  driven  by  hunger  to 
feed  on  their  fellow-creatures.  The  strong  way- 
laid the  weak,  tore  them  to  pieces,  and  ate  them. 
In  this  hopeless  condition  men's  thoughts  turned 
towards  Heaven  ...  a  state  of  feeling  arose  full 
of  the  bitterest  hatred  against  this  earthly  world." 
Many  thousands  went  on  pilgrimage,  and  especially 
to  the  land  where  Christ  hved  His  earthly  Kfe  and 
to  the  rock  Christendom  has  honoured  as  His  grave. 
The  bitterest  f eeUng  of  resentment  awoke  against  the 
unbeHevers  who  were  desecrating  this  holy  place. 
The  Western  world  was  lit  with  a  fire  of  fervent 
desire  to  wipe  out  the  disgrace  of  the  Moslem  posses- 
sion of  Jerusalem — or  die  in  the  attempt,  and  thus 
win  Heaven — the  new  Jerusalem.  Hence  the  first 
crusade ! 

Crusading  ardour,  however,  had  never  quite 
reached  the  heights  in  England  which  it  did  among 
the  more  excitable  Latin  peoples,  and  under  Henry  n.'s 
government  social  conditions  had  been  placed  on  a  basis 
of  greater  security,  so  that  men  had  more  to  lose  in 
leaving  their  homes  for  a  foreign  war.  All  this  con- 
duced to  make  it  easier  for  King  Eichard  to  obtain 
money  than  men  in  his  island  realm,  for  the  crusade 
which  was  now  the  object  of  his  hfe ;  he  did  not 
remain  long  enough  in  England  to  kindle  in  the 
hearts  of  his  subjects  the  lofty  idea  which  inspired 
3 


42 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


Ms  own.  Few  characters  in  history  present  more 
puzzUng  contradictions  than  Eichard  does,  for,  while 
himseK  inspired  by  a  really  noble  purpose,  he  has 
been  said  to  have  "  treated  England  as  a  mme  from 
which  to  draw  the  resources  of  a  private  scheme. 


CHAPTER  V 


THE   START   FOR  THE   HOLY   LAND — RICHARD 

REACHES   SICILY 

In  June  1190  Coeur  de  Lion  crossed  to  Calais  and 
proceeded  from  there  to  Tours,  where  he  received 
the  pilgrim's  staff  and  wallet  from  the  hands  of 
the  Archbishop,  and  thus  formally  entered  on  the 
crusade  from  which  it  seemed  at  least  problematic, 
taking  into  consideration  his  health,  which  was 
broken  before  he  left  England,  and  the  desperate 
courage  (which  would  cause  him  always  to  seek  the 
point  of  danger  and  fight  to  the  death),  he  would 
ever  return. 

It  is  related  that  when  Richard  leant  upon  the 
staff  it  broke— this  incident  could  not  have  been 
considered  otherwise  than  an  ill-omen  in  that  super- 
stitious age,  and  doubtless  it  made  this  impression 
on  the  King.  During  the  ceremony  of  presenting 
the  pilgrim  with  the  wallet,  in  token  of  having 
commenced  his  journey,  the  King  lay  prostrate  on 
the  ground,  just  as  the  Russian  pilgrims  in  the 
Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  at  Jerusalem  do  to- 
day, and  then,  "  rising  in  tears,''  took  down  from 
over  the  reHcs  two  banners  blazoned  with  crosses 
wrought  in  gold  to  "carry  with  him  in  his  wars 
against  the  enemies  of  Christ." 


48 


42 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


his  own.  Few  characters  in  history  present  more 
puzzUng  contradictions  than  Kichard  does,  for,  while 
himself  inspired  by  a  really  noble  purpose,  he  has 
been  said  to  have  "  treated  England  as  a  mine  from 
which  to  draw  the  resources  of  a  private  scheme. 


CHAPTEE  V 


THE   START   FOR  THE   HOLY   LAND — RICHARD 

REACHES   SICILY 

In  June  1190  Coeur  de  Lion  crossed  to  Calais  and 
proceeded  from  there  to  Tours,  where  he  received 
the  pilgrim's  staff  and  wallet  from  the  hands  of 
the  Archbishop,  and  thus  formally  entered  on  the 
crusade  from  which  it  seemed  at  least  problematic, 
taking  into  consideration  his  health,  which  was 
broken  before  he  left  England,  and  the  desperate 
courage  (which  would  cause  him  always  to  seek  the 
point  of  danger  and  fight  to  the  death),  he  would 
ever  return. 

It  is  related  that  when  Richard  leant  upon  the 
staff  it  broke — this  incident  could  not  have  been 
considered  otherwise  than  an  ill-omen  in  that  super- 
stitious age,  and  doubtless  it  made  this  impression 
on  the  King.  During  the  ceremony  of  presenting 
the  pilgrim  with  the  wallet,  in  token  of  having 
commenced  his  journey,  the  King  lay  prostrate  on 
the  ground,  just  as  the  Russian  pilgrims  in  the 
Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  at  Jerusalem  do  to- 
day, and  then,  "  rising  in  tears,''  took  down  from 
over  the  reUcs  two  banners  blazoned  with  crosses 
wrought  in  gold  to  "  carry  with  him  in  his  wars 
against  the  enemies  of  Christ.'' 

48 


•:i 


111 


u\ 


44  RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 

The  inhabitants  of  Tours  were  amazed  at  the 
size  of  the  Crusading  army.    The  old  chroniclers 
L  it  "  impressed  a  feeling  of  dread  on  spectato^ 
who  had  never  conceived  it  possible  to  bring  such 
multitudes  of  men  together."    We  are  told  that 
"  the  city  and  suburbs  were  so  crowded  with  pilgrmis 
that  the  multitude  became  immovable  by  its  own 
density  in  the  narrow  streets  and  roads,    and     the 
Sabitants  of  the  land  were  terrified."       Troops  o^ 
infantry  and  slingers,  past  numbermg   with  their 
heavy  Lartial  tread,  while  the  yet  unsulhed  armour 
ehttered  in  the  sun  and  their  healthful  frames  were 
untouched  by  weariness  and  hunger,  seemed  in- 
vincible ;  and  in  proportion  to  the  ^eatness  of  the 
armament,  was  the  tempest  of  lamentations  and  the 
torrent  of  blessings  and  farewells  that  murmured 
around  from  wives  and  mothers  and  lovers  and 
acquaintances.    No  one  could  say  whether  the  scene 
were  more  glad  or  joyous."    From  Tours  the  army 
moved  to  Vezelai  (a  place  of  pilgrunage  famous  m 
the  Middle  Ages  as  the  shrine  of  St.  Mary  Magdalene) 
to  meet  the  King  of  France,   and  here  the  two 
monarchs  made  a  compact  to  share  equally  their 
conquests  in  the  Holy  War.    The  umted  arnnes 
then  moved  on  by  stages  to  Lyons,  and  a  spnnted 
picture  is  drawn  for  us  by  contemporary  writers  of 
the  vast  camp  which  covered  the  hills  far  and  wide, 
with  tents  and  paviUons  from  which  floated  proudly 
the  banners  of  "  each  nation,  each  company,  and 
even  each  chieftain."    At  Lyons  a  disaster  happened 
which  caused  great  consternation.    The  bndge  across 
the  Bhone  gave  way  owing  to  the  stram  put  upon  it 
bv  the  unusual  traffic,  and  more  than  a  hundred 
pUgrims  who  were  crossing  at  the  time  were  m 


THE  START  FOR  THE  HOLY  LAND    45 

danger  of  drowning,  but  miraculously  only  two  lost 
their  lives.  "  Yet  do  their  souls  five  in  Christ ;  for  it 
was  while  engaged  in  His  service  that  they  were  cut 
off,"  says  Kicbard  of  the  Temple— an  idea  that  still 
survives  in  the  Eussian  pilgrims  before  alluded  to,  who 
traverse  the  Holy  Land  on  foot  and  count  themselves 
supremely  fortunate  if  they  die  on  their  pilgrimage. 

At  Lyons  the  armies  divided  to  take  ship  for  the 
East  at  different  ports,  some  going  to  Venice,  others 
to  Genoa  and  Brindisi,  while  Richard  went  to 
Marseilles  to  meet  the  fleet,  but,  after  waiting  a  week 
for  it,  proceeded  in  hired  vessels  to  Messina  to 
rejoin  King  Philip.  Taking  warning  by  the  fate  of 
the  Crusading  armies  which  had  crossed  Europe, 
Richard  decided  to  send  the  main  portion  of  his  army 
to  Palestine  by  sea,  and  the  fleet  soon  after  Easter 
sailed  from  Dartmouth  where  doubtless  Richard 
saw  it  off.  Some  months  later  he  himself  crossed 
to  Calais  on  his  way  to  start  his  pilgrimage  from 
Tours.  Old  chroniclers  tell  us,  that  when  the  fleet 
left  England  it  was  commanded  by  the  Archbishop  of 
Auch  and  the  Bishop  of  Bayonne,  and  was  formed  of 
vessels  which  started  from  the  different  harbours  of 
England,  Brittany,  Normandy,  and  Poitou.  The 
first  thirty-three  vessels  were  furnished  by  the 
Cinque  Ports,  six  from  Shoreham  and  Southampton, 
and  a  few  were  the  gift  of  private  individuals.  It 
is  interesting  to  note  that  the  ships  gathered  in 
Dartmouth  Harbour  and  passed  Start  Point,  which 
even  in  those  days  seems  to  have  been  known  to 
mariners.  For  the  conduct  of  the  army  a  very 
strict  code  or  charter,  known  as  the  ordinances  of 
Chinon,  had  been  drawn  up,  which  reads  as  follows : — 

"  Richard,  by  the  grace  of  God,  King  of  England, 


46 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


Duke  of  Normandy  and  Aquitaine,  and  Count  of 
Anjou,  to  all  his  men  who  are  about  to  journey  to 
Jerusalem  by  sea— Health.    Know  that  with  the 
common  counsel  of  approved  men  we  have  had  the 
following  regulations  drawn  up.    Whoever  on  board 
ship  shall  slay  another  is  himself  to  be  cast  into  the 
sea  lashed  to  the  dead  man ;   if  he  have  slain  him 
ashore  he  is  to  be  buried  in  the  same  way.    If  any 
one  be  proved  by  worthy  witnesses  to  have  drawn 
a  knife  for  the  purpose  of  striking  another,  or  to 
have  wounded  another  so  as  to  draw  blood,  let  him 
lose  his  fist ;  but  if  he  strike  another  with  his  hand 
and  draw  no  blood,  let  him  be  dipped  three  times  in 
the  sea.    If  any  one  cast  any  reproach  or  bad  word 
against  another,  or  invoke  God's  malison  on  him, 
let  him  for  every  offence  pay  an  ounce  of  silver. 
Let  a  convicted  thief  be  shorn  Uke  a  prize-fighter ; 
after  which  let  boiling  pitch  be  poured  on  his  head 
and  a  feather  pillow  be  shaken  over  it  so  as  to  make 
him  a  laughing-stock.    Then  let  him  be  put  ashore 
at  the  first  land  where  the  ships  touch.    Witness 

myself  at  Chinon." 

The  punishments  strike  modern  ears  as  being 
altogether  out  of  proportion  to  the  offence,  but  it 
was  essential  that  a  Crusading  army  should  be 
protected  as  far  as  possible  against  internal  dis- 
sensions, and  made  to  keep  at  least  an  outward 
appearance  of  righteousness,  and  in  that  age  of 
barbarism  strong  measures  were  essential  to  make 
men  obey  the  law. 

There  is  a  legend  that  when  the  fleet  was  off  the 
coast  of  Spain  a  great  tempest  arose,  and  in  answer  to 
the  prayers  of  the  sailors  St.  Thomas  of  Canterbury 
appeared  unta  some  of  them  in  a  vision,  and  after 


THE  START  FOR  THE  HOLY  LAND        47 

teUing  them  to  have  no  fear,  said  that  he  had  been 
appointed  by  God  the  guardian  of  the  fleet,  and, 
said  he,  "  If  the  men  of  this  fleet  keep  themselves 
from  evil  deeds  and  do  penance  for  their  past  offences 
the  Lord  will  grant  them  a  prosperous  voyage  and 
direct  their  steps  in  His  paths."  King  Richard's  whole 
fleet,  including  the  ships  which  accompanied  him  to 
Messina,  was  about  a  hundred  vessels,  and  provided 
for  the  transport  of  eight  thousand  troops. 

Richard  coasted  down  the  Mediterranean  in 
leisurely  yachting  fashion,  putting  in  to  harbour  at 
night  and  occasionally  landing  to  travel  on  shore  ;  the 
diary  kept  by  Roger  of  Hoveden,  who  accompanied 
him,  gives  us  a  quaintly  interesting  account  of  the 
voyage.  He  tells  us  that  on  7th  of  August "  the  King 
of  England  embarked  at  Marseilles  in  the  galley 
Pumhon,  and  passed  by  the  isle  of  St.  Stephen,  then 
northward  by  Mount  Noir,  the  isle  of  St.  Honorat, 
the  city  of  Nice,  and  that  of  VentimigUa  "  (a  good 
many  of  these  places  cannot  be  identified).  In  six 
days  he  reached  Genoa  and  had  an  interview  with 
King  PhiUp,  who  had  been  detained  there  by  ilhiess, 
and  the  next  day  landed  again  at  Porto  Fino  to 
celebrate  the  Feast  of  the  Assumption  of  St.  Mary, 
and  for  some  incomprehensible  reason  (considering 
how  he  had  chafed  at  the  delay  at  Marseilles),  instead 
of  leaving  again  immediately  after  the  rehgious 
ceremony,  remained  five  days  enjoying  the  lovely 
scenery  of  this  gem  of  the  Italian  Riviera,  whose 
natural  beauties  remain  to-day  unspoilt  by  the 
spirit  of  commerciaUsm  and  modernity. 

At  Pisa  the  King  also  called,  to  meet  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Rheims  and  heard  that  the  Bishop  of  York 
lay  sick  there. 


48 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


Sixteen  days  after  leaving  Marseilles  the  royal 
skip  entered  the  mouth  of  the  Tiber,  and  Kichard 
received  an  invitation  from  the  Pope  to  visit  Rome, 
which,  however,  he  did  not  accept.*  The  Cardinal 
Bishop  of  Ostea  met  him  here,  and  some  altercations 
took  place  about  the  sums  of  money  demanded  by 
Rome  from  Richard's  subjects,  the  Bishop  of  Caen 
and  William  of  Ely,  for  the  high  Church  offices  they 

had  purchased. 

The  description  of  Richard's  ride  through  "a 
certain  forest  called  Selvedene,  where  there  is  a 
road  paved  with  marble  to  the  length  of  twenty- 
four  miles  through  the  forest,"  castles  with  "  gates 
cased  with  copper,"  and  others  that  were  the  resort 
of  thieves  and  pirates,  reads  like  a  page  from  a  fairy 
tale— rather  than  the  sober  account  of  an  historian 
who  could  vouch  for  it  all  with  the  witness  of  his 
own  eyes.  Probably  the  writer  was  gifted  with  a 
vivid  imagination  fed  by  the  legends  and  myths 
of  medieval  romance,  but  the  gist  must  be  true, 
though  little  details  sometimes  betray  inaccuracy 
and  show  that  the  diary  was  occasionally  (as  is,  alas, 
too  often  the  case  with  journals)  suffered  to  get  into 
arrears  and  then  brought  up  to  date  from  memory. 

In  describing  how  they  sighted  the  island  of 
Stromboli,  Roger  of  Hoveden  says  it  is  perpetually 
smoking,  and  quaintly  adds,  "  It  is  reported  that 
this  island  was  set  on  fire  from  another  island,  called 
Vulcano,  the  fire  rushing  and  burning  up  the  sea 
and  fishes  as  it  came." 

Three  weeks  out  from  Marseilles  Richard  came 

»  A  modem  historian's  comments  on  this  is,  "The  light  in  which 
Richard  regarded  Rome  was  seemingly  that  of  a  rival  taxing  power, 
which  fleeced  ecclesiastics  of  moneys  that  otherwise  might  have  gone 
into  the  King's  own  pockek" 


'^:.f::m*. 


!f 


48 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


Sixteen  days  after  leaving  Marseilles  the  royal 
ship  entered  the  mouth  of  the  Tiber,  and  Richard 
received  an  invitation  from  the  Pope  to  visit  Rome, 
which,  however,  he  did  not  accept.^  The  Cardinal 
Bishop  of  Ostea  met  him  here,  and  some  altercations 
took  place  about  the  sums  of  money  demanded  by 
Rome  from  Richard's  subjects,  the  Bishop  of  Caen 
and  William  of  Ely,  for  the  high  Church  offices  they 
had  purchased. 

The  description  of  Richard's  ride  through  "a 
certain  forest  called  Selvedene,  where  there  is  a 
road  paved  with  marble  to  the  length  of  twenty- 
four  miles  through  the  forest,''  castles  with  "  gates 
cased  with  copper,"  and  others  that  were  the  resort 
of  thieves  and  pirates,  reads  like  a  page  from  a  fairy 
tale — ^rather  than  the  sober  account  of  an  historian 
who  could  vouch  for  it  all  with  the  witness  of  his 
own  eyes.  Probably  the  writer  was  gifted  with  a 
vivid  imagination  fed  by  the  legends  and  myths 
of  medieval  romance,  but  the  gist  must  be  true, 
though  little  details  sometimes  betray  inaccuracy 
and  show  that  the  diary  was  occasionally  (as  is,  alas, 
too  often  the  case  with  journals)  suffered  to  get  into 
arrears  and  then  brought  up  to  date  from  memory. 

In  describing  how  they  sighted  the  island  of 
Stromboli,  Roger  of  Hoveden  says  it  is  perpetually 
smoking,  and  quaintly  adds,  "  It  is  reported  that 
this  island  was  set  on  fire  from  another  island,  called 
Vulcano,  the  fire  rushing  and  burning  up  the  sea 
and  fishes  as  it  came." 

Three  weeks  out  from  Marseilles  Richard  came 

*  A  modem  historian's  comments  on  this  is,  "  The  light  in  which 
Richard  regarded  Rome  was  seemingly  that  of  a  rival  taxing  power, 
which  fleeced  ecclesiastics  of  moneys  that  otherwise  might  have  gone 
into  the  King's  own  pocket." 


y. 


r 


Z 


Z 


r. 


:£.     I- 

y.    "* 


r. 

X 


if. 


c 

o 
o 


■if  '  |! 


. 


. 


THE  START  FOR  THE  HOLY  LAND        51 

to  the  beautiful  Bay  of  Naples  and  went  ashore  to 
visit  the  Abbey  of  St.  January,  where,  with  his 
usual  punctiliousness  about  attendance  at  rehgious 
observances,^he  stayed  to  celebrate  the  Feast  of  the 
Nativity.  His  slow  progress  was  not  acceptable  to 
some  of  the  leaders  of  his  army,  who  were  anxious 
to  push  on  and  reach  the  Holy  Land  before  the 
equinoctial  gales  of  autumn  made  voyaging  unsafe, 
so  Archbishop  Baldwin,  Hubert  Walter,  Bishop  of 
Sahsbury,  and  Ranulf  Glanville  here  left  him  and 
proceeded  direct  to  Acre. 

Richard,  however,  had  matters  of  moment  to 
settle  on  the  way  with  the  new  King  Tancred  of 
Sicily,  who,  on  the  death  of  William  the  Good,  the 
husband  of  Richard's  sister  Johanna,  had  usurped 
the  throne  and  imprisoned  the  widow  of  the  late  King, 
because  she  favoured  the  lawful  heir.  It  is  not 
improbable  he  had  delayed  his  coming  there  the  better 
to  consider  how  to  enforce  his  just  claim,  and  at  the 
same  time  profit  by  the  opportunity  it  presented 
to  enlarge  his  treasury. 

On  leaving  Naples  Richard  rode  in  one  day  to 
Salerno,  at  that  time  a  place  of  great  importance 
both  as  a  university  town  and  the  capital  of  the 
province  ;  here  news  came  to  him  that  his  main  fleet 
was  approaching  the  Straits  of  Messina,  on  which  he 
eagerly  pushed  on  to  La  Bagnara,  the  point  at  which 
he  was  to  cross  from  the  mainland  to  Sicily. 

Here  that  curious  devil-may-care  mischievous 
schoolboy  strain  in  the  King,  which  caused  him 
to  follow  his  will  at  the  moment,  reckless  of  conse- 
quences, nearly  brought  about  serious  results. 
Richard  had  a  passion  for  everything  pertaining 
to  the  chase  and,  riding  from  Meleto  to  Bagnara, 


I 


it 


52 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


with  only  one  man  in  attendance,  he  passed  a  poor 
man's  house  where  he  saw  a  fine  hawk  and  im- 
mediately desired  it  for  his  own.    With  him  to  want 
was  to   have — the   question  of  the   moraUty  and 
justice  of  his  act  no  more  occurred  to  him  than 
it  does  to  the   schoolboy  who  robs   an  orchard, 
and  it  is  highly  probable   that,  never  wanting  in 
generosity,  he  would  if  let  alone  have  sent  the  owner 
a  present  much  greater  than  the  value  of  the  bird ; 
but  not  unnaturally  the  peasants,  who  saw  the  high- 
handed theft,  and  did  not  dream  of  the  rank  of  the 
culprit,  came  after  him  with  sticks  and  stones,  and 
one  man  with  a  knife,  which  Richard  broke  in  two  in 
the  scuffle  that  ensued  with  the  flat  of  his  sword. 

The  freebooting  King  of  this  story,  embroiled  in 
a  hand-to-hand  fight  with  a  band  of  peasants,  is  a 
curious  contrast  to  the  proud  monarch  who  made 
his  state  entry  into  Messina  the  following  day — the 
very  ideal  of  a  warrior  king  and  cynosure  of  all 
eyes  as,  clad  in  glittering  armour,  he  stood  on  the 
deck  of  his  flagship  at  the  head  of  the  long  line  of 
noble  galleys  which  swept  into  the  harbour. 

Richard  had  much  to  learn  of  what  had  befallen 
his  fleet  since  it  left  the  shores  of  England.  Ad- 
ventures were  never  wanting  in  the  voyages  of 
those  days,  and  after  the  great  storm  during  which 
the  sailors  had  seen  the  vision  of  St.  Thomas  of 
Canterbury,  the  ships  put  into  various  ports  for 
rest  and  repairs  and  nine  vessels  sailed  up  the  river 
Tagus  to  Lisbon.  Now  the  Portuguese,  like  all  the 
rest  of  twelfth-century  Christendom,  were  at  war 
with  Islam,  and  the  war  here  was  very  near  home, 
lor  the  Moors  were  actually  besieging  the  castle 
of  Torres  Novas  near  St.  Erena,  about  two  days' 


li 


THE  START  FOR  THE  HOLY  LAND        63 

march  from   the  capital,  when  the  little  body  of 
Crusaders  reached  Lisbon. 

King  Sancho  of  Portugal  sent  messengers  pray- 
ing the  knights  "  to  turn  their  consecrated  swords 
against  the  enemies  of  the  faith,"  *  and  five 
hundred  picked  men  volunteered  for  this  service 
and  marched  to  the  reHef  of  the  Portuguese, 
whom  they  found  in  sore  need  of  their  help.  The 
Moslems  had  taken  the  castle  of  Torres  Novas  and 
were  on  the  point  of  capturing  a  stronghold  of 
the  Templars  also,  when  a  rumour  reached  them 
that  the  Crusaders  were  coming,  and  they  fled,  terror- 
struck,  in  confusion. 

Unfortunately  the  lustre  that  would  have  been 
shed  on  the  EngHsh  arms  by  the  gallantry  of  these 
volunteers  was  marred  by  the  bad  behaviour  of 
some  of  their  companions  who  remained  in  Lisbon 
and  had  nothing  better  to  do  than  to  quarrel  with 
the  townsfolk  and  disgrace  their  order  by  resorting 
to  pillage  and  robbery.  The  King  of  Portugal, 
having  been  helped  to  rout  the  Moslem  army,  had 
now  actually  to  take  strong  measures  against  the 
brothers  in  arms  of  the  men  who  had  saved  his  Uttle 
army  from  annihilation,  and  was  forced  to  shut  up 
hundreds  in  prison  till  they  promised  to  depart 
peaceably.  Such  were  the  incongruities  of  medieval 
warfare. 

Other  adventures  were  met  with  by  the  sailors 
of  the  ship  London  at  the  city  of  Silvia  (the  present 
Silves)  in  southern  Portugal,  which  at  that  time 
was  the  furthest  outpost  of  Christianity  in  those 
parts,  the  people  of  the  city  having  embraced  the 
Christian  faith  only  a  year  previous.    The  Bishop  of 

» The  Third  Crusade :  Richard  /.,  by  Rev.  W.  H.  Rule,  p.  181. 


III  I 


IP 

I 


54 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


Silvia  came  to  meet  the  ship's  company,  whose  coming 
must  have  seemed  to  him  a  providential  inter- 
position in  his  favour,  for  Silvia,  hke  the  rest  of 
Portugal,  was  fighting  for  its  hfe  against  the  Moors. 
The  London  was  broken  up  in  order  that  her  timbers 
might  furnish  a  stockade,  on  the  promise  of  the 
Bishop  that  the  King  of  Portugal  would  furnish  the 
Crusaders  with  another  ship  to  proceed  on  their 
journey  when  the  fight  was  over.  The  Enghshmen 
stood  by  their  brother  Christians  till  imimediate 
danger  was  passed,  then  received  their  new  ship 
and  sailed  on  with  the  rest  of  the  fleet,  creeping 
round  the  coast  of  Spain  to  "  the  Straits  of  Africa/' 
as  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar  were  then  called. 

Says    the   old  chronicler,*   "  Here    begins    the 
Mediterranean  Sea,  which  is  so  called  because  it 
has  only  one  entrance  and  one  exit,  of  which  the 
one   is  called  the  Straits  of  Africa,  the  other  the 
Straits  of  St.  George  near  Constantinople.    And  it  is 
a  noteworthy  thing  that  from  the  Straits  of  Africa 
as  far  as  Ascalon  (on  the  coast  of  Palestine)  as  you 
sail,  all  the  land  on  your  right  belongs  to  the  Pagams." 
They  reached  Marseilles  on  the  22nd  of  August  1190. 
"  And  it  is  to  be  noted  that  from  Marseilles  to  Acre 
it  is  only  a  sail  of  fifteen  days  and  nights  if  the  wind 
is  favourable.''    The  Admiral  of  the  fleet  was  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  who  had  left  the  King  to 
join  the  ships  at  Marseilles  and  was  supported  by 
the  Bishop  of  SaHsbury.    The  Bishop  of  Norwich 
had  proved  less  courageous  and,  by  visiting  Rome 
on  his  outward  journey,  obtained  from  the  Pope  ab- 
solvement  from  his  vow  on  payment  of  1000  marks 
to  the  military  orders  of  Knights  Templars  and 

'  Hoveden,  iii.  ^. 


RICHARD  REACHES  SICILY 


55 


Hospitallers.    Upon  which  he  promptly  turned  back 
and  went  home. 

This  is  the  account  given  by  Roger  of  Hoveden  of 
the  arrival  of  King  Richard  al  Messina :  "  On  Sept. 
23rd  (1190)  came  Richard  King  of  England  to 
Messina  with  many  busses  and  other  great  ships  and 
galleys ;  in  such  pomp  he  came  with  the  sound  of 
trumpets  and  horns  that  terror  fell  upon  those  who 
were  in  the  city.  But  the  King  of  France  and  all 
the  great  men  of  the  city  of  Messina,  and  the  clergy 
and  people,  stood  on  the  shore  marvelling  because 
of  all  they  saw  and  what  they  had  heard  concerning 
the  King  of  England  and  his  power.  When  the 
King  of  England  had  come  ashore  he  at  once  had  an 
interview  with  Phihp  King  of  France.  And  after 
that  interview  the  King  of  France  at  once  went  on 
board  his  own  vessels  as  though  he  were  desirous 
of  setting  out  for  the  land  of  Jerusalem  ;  but  directly 
he  left  the  harbour  the  wind  shifted  and  blew  against 
him,  upon  which  he  returned  unwillingly  and  sadly 
to  Messina.  But  the  King  of  England  entered  the 
house  of  Keginald  de  Muhoc  in  the  vineyards  out- 
side the  city,  where  a  lodging  was  being  prepared  for 
him." 


CHAPTER  VI 

RICfHARD  RIGHTS  HIS  SISTER's  WRONGS  AND  IS  RE- 
CONCILED TO  TANCRED  — BERENGARIA  ARRIVES 
AT  MESSINA 

It  was  at  Messina  that  Richard  first  earned  his 
nickname  of  "  the  Lion  "  ;  it  was  given  him  by  the 
Sicilians,  who  at  the  same  time  named  the  French 
King  "the  Lamb'*  by  contrast.  Neither  name 
originally  referred  to  prowess  in  the  battlefield 
(though  Richard  well  sustained  his  there),  but  to  the 
different  attitudes  taken  up  by  the  two  kings  towards 
the  disturbers  of  the  peace  in  the  camp,  whether 
soldiers  of  the  Crusading  armies  or  inhabitants  of 
the  land. 

King  Richard  struck  terror  into  the  hearts  of  the 
latter,  by  causing  gallows  to  be  erected  before  his 
house  for  the  summary  punishment  of  malefactors 
(no  matter  of  what  nationahty),  and  this  on  the  day 
after  his  arrival ;  the  French  King,  though  of  higher 
rank,  had  never  dared  to  take  such  high-handed 
measures  as  did  his  proud  vassal. 

Richard's  first  step  on  arrival  in  Sicily  was  to 
demand  the  release  of  his  sister  from  the  captivity 
into  which  King  Tancred  had  thrown  her,  and  the 
restoration  of  her  dowry,  as  well  as  the  legacies  left 
by  King  WiUiam  of  Sicily  to  his  father,  King  Henry 


\ 


RICHARD  RIGHTS  HIS  SISTER'S  WRONGS     57 

of  England.    The  dowry  of  a  Sicihan  queen  of  that 
period  is  very  quaint  reading.    We    are    told  it 
included  "  a  golden  table  twelve  feet  long,  a  silk 
tent,   a   hundred  fine  galleys  fitted   out  for   two 
years,  sixty  thousand  mules'  burden  of  corn  and 
the  same  each  of  barky  and  wine,  twenty-four  golden 
cups,  and  twenty-four  golden  plates.'^    Above  and 
beyond  this  Richard  not  unnaturally  demanded  sub- 
stantial monetary  compensation,  for  the  indignity 
his  sister  had  suffered  because  she  had  espoused  the 
cause  of  the  rightful  heiress  Constance— the  aunt  of 
King  Tancred— who  was  married  to  Henry  King  of 
Germany,  the  eldest  son  of  the  Emperor  Barbarossa. 
Tancred    released    his    prisoner    at    Richard's 
demand,  and  sent  Queen  Joan  with  an  escort  from 
Palermo  to  Messina,  so  promptly  that  she  arrived 
there  five  days  after  her  brother  made  bis  state  entry 
into  the  city.    Tancred,  however,  at  first  demurred 
about  giving  up  her  dowry,  whereupon  Richard 
deemed  himself  justified  in  seizing  the  fortress  of 
La   Bagnara   and   installing   the   widowed    Queen 
there  in  a  state  befitting  her  rank.    This  he  followed 
up  (as  a  threat  of  what  might  follow  if  his  demands 
were  not  comphed  with)  by  taking  a  "  monastery 
of  the  Griffons  "  (the  name  given  by  the  Crusaders 
to  the  Greeks)  for  his  storehouse,  which  caused   a 
rumour  that  it  was  his  intention  sooner  or  later  to 
possess  himself  of  the  whole  of  Sicily.    The  patriotism 
of  the  Sicilians  was  aroused  to  fury  by  the  idea  of 
conquest  by  a  foreign  king,  and  they  disliked  and  mis- 
trusted Richard  accordingly.    The  fire  was  smoulder- 
ing and  ready  to  leap  into  flame  when  a  squabble  in 
the  market-place  between  a  Crusader  and  a  native 
vendor  of  bread  set  it  ahght.    The  citizens  took 


11 


\ 


68 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


the  part  of  the  bread-seller  and  handled  the  English 
soldier  so  roughly  that  he  was  left  almost  dead  after 
being  beaten  and  trampled  under  foot.  His  fellow- 
pilgrims  would  have  retaUated  had  not  Richard 
used  his  personal  influence  to  restrain  them.  Never- 
theless, discord  did  not  cease — the  very  next  day 
fighting  was  renewed,  and,  Richard's  blood  being 
up,  he  possessed  himself  of  Messina  **  in  one  attack, 
quicker  than  any  priest  could  say  matins."  The 
riches  of  the  city  became  the  lawful  prey  of  the 
Crusaders,  and  the  galleys  in  the  harbour  were 
burnt  to  prevent  them  carrying  news  of  the  fall  of 
Messina  to  other  parts  of  the  country. 

KichMd  pknL  hi  standard  Tbove  the  walls 
to  the  great  chagrin  of  the  King  of  France,  who, 
although  he  had  rendered  no  help  to  his  brother- 
sovereign-in-arms,  wanted  to  share  in  the  honour 
and  glory.  A  compromise  was  arrived  at  by  King 
Richard  taking  down  his  own  flag  and  making 
over  the  city  to  the  original  military  orders  of  the 
Hospitallers  and  Templars,  to  keep  till  King  Tancred 
settled  his  claim  for  damages  and  made  proper 
provision  for  the  widowed  Queen. 

Finally  Tancred  sent  to  the  English  King  20,000 
ounces  of  gold  (or  about  £15,000)  for  the  Queen's 
dowry,  and  another  20,000  ounces  of  gold  ^  "  in 
quittance  of  all  the  other  claims  set  up  in  regard  to 
the  bequest  of  the  dead  King  WiUiam."  Peace  was 
made  and  sealed  by  a  betrothal  between  Arthur  of 
Brittany,  the  son  of  Richard's  half-brother  Geoffrey, 
and  King  Tancred's  daughter.  Upon  which  Richard 
gave  orders  that  all  valuables  carried  off  by  soldiers 

^  In  the  Hpe^Rolls  the  ounoe  of  gold  is  given  as  equivalent  to 
iftoQn  in  ailvor. 


58 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


the  part  of  the  bread-seller  and  handled  the  English 
soldier  so  roughly  that  he  was  left  almost  dead  after 
being  beaten  and  trampled  under  foot.  His  fellow- 
pilgrims  would  have  retaHated  had  not  Kichard 
used  his  personal  influence  to  restrain  them.  Never- 
theless, discord  did  not  cease — the  very  next  day 
fighting  was  renewed,  and,  Kichard's  blood  being 
up,  he  possessed  himself  of  Messina  **  in  one  attack, 
quicker  than  any  priest  could  say  matins."  The 
riches  of  the  city  became  the  lawful  prey  of  the 
Crusaders,  and  the  galleys  in  the  harbour  were 
burnt  to  prevent  them  carrying  news  of  the  fall  of 
Messina  to  other  parts  of  the  country. 

Richard  planted  his  standard  above  the  walls 
to  the  great  chagrin  of  the  King  of  France,  who, 
although  he  had  rendered  no  help  to  his  brother- 
sovereign-in-arms,  wanted  to  share  in  the  honour 
and  glory.  A  compromise  was  arrived  at  by  King 
Richard  taking  down  his  own  flag  and  making 
over  the  city  to  the  original  mihtary  orders  of  the 
Hospitallers  and  Templars,  to  keep  till  King  Tancred 
settled  his  claim  for  damages  and  made  proper 
provision  for  the  widowed  Queen. 

Finally  Tancred  sent  to  the  Enghsh  King  20,000 
ounces  of  gold  (or  about  £15,000)  for  the  Queen's 
dowry,  and  another  20,000  ounces  of  gold  ^  "  in 
quittance  of  all  the  other  claims  set  up  in  regard  to 
the  bequest  of  the  dead  King  William/'  Peace  was 
made  and  sealed  by  a  betrothal  between  Arthur  of 
Brittany,  the  son  of  Richard's  half-brother  Geoffrey, 
and  King  Tancred's  daughter.  Upon  which  Richard 
gave  orders  that  all  valuables  carried  ofi  by  soldiers 

1  In  the  Pipe^  Rolls  the  ounce  of  gold  is  given  as  equivalent  to 
fifteen  in  silver. 


»i 


■v. 


•rc- 


^      1 


lit 


RICHARD  RIGHTS  HIS  SISTER'S  WRONGS     61 

In^^^  ^^'^«*ding  armies  during  the  sack  of  Messina 
should  be  returned  to  their  lawful  owners 

Two  days  later  the  Kings  of  England  and  Prance 
met  in  royal  state,  and  swore  on  the  sacred  reUcs 
to  keep  peace  between  themselves  and  between 
then:  armies  while  on  pilgrimage ;    they  also  made 

S.^^^^f'f-'"*"*''?^^  ^^^  P"°P^^*3^  «f  Crusaders 
who  might  die  on  the  way  to  the  Holy  liand.  or  in 

bat  le  there.    Such  were  to  be  at  liberty  to  dispose 

of  then:  horses  and  personal  equipment  as  they 

would,  but  of  their  other  property  half  was  Z 

be  spent      for  the  aid  of  the  Holy  Land  in  such 

manner  as  the  Archbishop  of  Eouen,  the  masters 

f\  TJ^T^  ^""^^^^  ^'>^P^^l  and  other  leaders  of 
tie  L-rusadmg  army  were  to  determine." 

Strmgent  regulations  were  also  made  to  prohibit 
gambhng  among  the  common  soldiers,  and  check  it 
among  the     knights  and  clerks  "  who,  if  they  lost 
more  than  twenty  solidi,  or  about  £1,  in  one  day 
lay  themselves  open  to  a  fine  of   the  like  amount 
to  be  paid  to  the  Archbishop  of  Eouen  "for  the 
aid  of  the  Holy  Land."    The  Kings  alone  couM 
play  for  any  stakes  they  pleased.    Common  soldiers 
and  sailors  and  servants  fomid  gambhng  (except 

naked  through  the  army  for  three  days,"  but  the 
seamen  were  to  be  ducked  in  the  sea  ever^  morning 
Other  statutes  regulated   the  price  of  provisioS 

nJrK^""'^'   ^f^   prevented  waste   and  private 
profits  being  made  by  middlemen. 

arJ}^  f^^^T'  ''l*^'  '"*  ^^^  li"Je  known  and 
greatly  feared  m  Richard's  time,  to  continue  the 

IZT-.^  ^f""'"^'  '^^S  ^^^  equinoctiSgaS 
and  with  wmter  storms  fast  approaching,  waa  con- 


62 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


sidered  impossible,  so  the  monarchs  of  England 
and  France  went  into  winter  quarters.  Richard 
made  his  in  a  temporary  wooden  fortress,  which 
he  afterwards  took  with  him  to  Palestine  and  set 
up  before  the  walls  of  Acre,  and  to  which  his  men 
gave  the  name  of  Mate  Griffon,  or  *'  Kill  Greek,'' 
which  certainly  was  not  Ukely  to  enhance  the 
popularity  of  the  English  among  the  Greek  popula- 
tion of  Sicily.  On  Christmas  Day  Richard  enter- 
tained the  King  of  France  at  Mate  Griffon,  or ''  Matte- 
griffun,'*  as  some  writers  spell  the  name  of  his 
wooden  palace.  A  contemporary  writer  says  of 
the  great  feast :  "  I  was  eating  in  the  hall,  but 
never  did  I  see  there  a  dirty  cloth,  nor  a  cup  or 
spoon  of  wood  ...  nor  ever  did  I  aoe  oo  I  think- 
any  one  give  such  rich  gifts  as  King  Richard  gave 
on  this  occasion.  For  he  left  to  the  King  of  France 
and  his  folk  vessels  of  gold  and  ailver.'' 

As  so  often  happened  in  the  Middle  Ages  while  the 
kings  and  nobles  were  feasting  inside,  a  riot  broke 
out  among  their  followers  outride.  The  Pisans  and 
Genoese  sailors  attacked  the  English  mariners, 
and  blood  was  flowing  freely  when  the  King  and  his 
guests  and  nobles  rushed  to  the  scene  of  the  afiEray 
and  tried  to  part  the  combatants ;  it  was  not,  how- 
ever, till  dark  had  fallen  and  the  foes  could  no  longer 
see  each  other's  faces  that  peace  was  restored,  and 
even  then  the  fight  began  again  next  day  in  church 
by  a  Pisan  drawing  his  knife  and  wounding  an 
English  sailor  during  the  celebration  of  the  Mass* 
Once  more  a  melee  ensued,  and  once  more  the  Kings 
of  England  and  France  had  personally  to  come 
to  the  rescue  and  stay  their  turbulent  followers 
from  furilMtr  bloodshed — an  incident  which   shcdi 


RICHARD  IS  RECONCILED  TO  TANCRED      63 

a  strong  Ught  on  the  disharmony  within  the  allied 
armies.  ^^^j^ 

It  was  not  till   King  Richard   had   been  five 
months   in    Sicily    that   he   had   a    meeting    with 
Tancred.    For  this  purpose  he  journeyed  to  Catania 
on  the  eastern  shore  of  the  island.     Catania  was  at 
that  time  a  famous  place  of  pilgrimage  "where 
rests  the  most  holy  body  of  the  blessed  Agatha, 
virgin  and  martyr,''  says   a  contemporary  writer.^ 
Tancred  went  in  state  to  meet  the  King  of  England, 
with   the   utmost  respect,  outside   the   city  gates,' 
and  the  two  reconciled  monarcha  went  together  to 
the  church  of  the  martyr,  being  met  and  escorted 
thither  by  a  proces&ion  of  clci^  singing  hymns.    The 
Kings  knelt  side  by  side  in  prayer  before  the  saint's 
tomb,    and    thus    their    reconciliation    was    made 
complete,  after  which  liichard   entered    Tancred 's 
palace  and  accepted  his  hospitality  for  three  days. 
"  On  ihe.  fourth  day  the  King  of  Sicily  sent  many 
and  great  pre^ntd,  gold,  silver,  i^teeda,  and  silken 
cloths   to  the   King  of   England,   who,   however, 
would  accept  none  of  them  save  one  Mtth  ring  as  a 
token  of  mutual  love."    On  the  other  hand,  the 
King  of  England  gave  Tancred  "  that  best  of  swords 
which   the    Britons   call    CaUburne,    formerly   the 
sword  of  Arthur,  once  the  noble  Kmg  of  England." 

"  Calibume,"  of  course,  answers  to  the  Excalibur 
of  Tennyson's  "  Idylls  of  the  King."  It  would  be 
interesting  to  know  how  a  sword  having  such  a 
tradition  came  into  the  poflMssion  of  King  Richard, 
and  it  seems  unhkely  that  if  he  really  beUeved  in  its 
magic  properties  he  would  have  parted  with  a 
weapon  of  such  inestimable  worth  in  his  coming 

'  Rofir  of  HoT«<kQ. 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


battles  against  the  infidel.  Finally  King  Richard 
accepted  from  his  former  enemy  four  large  ships 
and  fifteen  gaUeys,  which  were  of  much  greater 
value  to  him  under  the  circumstances  than  the 
gifts  of  costly  stuffs  and  jewels  he  had  refused. 
So  favourable  an  impression  had  Richard's  magnetic 
personahty  made  upon  the  King  of  Sicily  that 
Tancred  accompanied  him  on  his  return  journey 
as  far  as  Taormina,  and  before  parting,  as  a 
crowning  proof  of  his  confidence,  showed  him  a 
letter  he  had  received  from  the  Bang  of  France,  in 
which  he,  Tancred,  was  warned  against  Richard 
as  a  "  traitor  '*  and  told  not  to  trust  his  promises. 

Richard's  generosity  found  it  hard  to  conceive 
of  such  treachery — ^he  was  inclined  to  beUeve  the 
letter  a  forgery,  but  Tancred  replied,  "  I  hand  you 
the  letters  which  he  (the  King  of  France)  has 
himself  sent  me  by  the  Duke  of  Burgundy ;  and  if 
the  Duke  shall  deny  having  brought  me  these  letters 
on  behalf  of  his  lord,  I  am  ready  to  prove  my  words 
against  him  by  one  of  my  lords." 

This  brought  the  long-threatened  quarrel  between 
the  Kings  of  England  and  France  to  a  head,  and 
also  led  to  the  final  breaking  off  of  the  negotiations 
for  Richard's  marriage  with  Alois,  PhiUp's  sister; 
though  Richard's  mind  had  long  been  made  up 
never  to  confirm  this  engagement,  since  the  French 
princess'  name  had  been  linked  scandalously  with 
that  of  his  own  father. 

Richard  sent  to  Philip  a  copy  of  the  letter  shown 
to  him  by  King  Tancred  ;  no  other  course  lay  open 
to  the  latter  to  defend  himself  than  to  deny  its 
authorship  and  declare  it  a  forgery.  He,  in  his  turn, 
accused  ^^^g  Richard  of  trumping  up  a  charge 


RICHARB  IS  RECONCILED  TO  TANCRED     65 

against  him  in  order  to  find  an  excuse  for  with- 
drawing from  the  French  marriage,  whereupon 
Richard  bluntly  gave  his  reasons,  which  were  so 
forcible  that  Philip,  already  conscience  stricken, 
consented  to  release  him  from  the  engagement  on 
payment  of  10,000  marks  in  silver.  And  so  at 
last  was  Richard  freed  from  the  galling  chain  with 
which  he  had  been  fettered  by  his  parents  from 
motives  of  poUcy  in  his  boyhood,  and  free  to  marry 
Berengaria  of  Navarre,  who  was  already  approach- 
ing the  coast  of  Sicily  in  the  charge  of  Queen  Eleanor, 
whose  earnest  hope  it  was  that  the  King's  marriage 
and  the  birth  of  an  heir  might  settle  for  ever  the 
claims  of  his  brother  John  to  the  English  throne. 

Opinions  differ  as  to  whether  the  daughter  of 
Sancho  of  Navarre  was  really  the  King's  own  choice, 
though  the  only  contemporary  writer  who  ever 
saw  her  ^  (for  she  never  set  foot  in  England)  says 
Richard  fell  in  love  with  her  when  he  was  Count 
of  Poitiers ;  however  this  may  have  been,  he 
showed  no  marked  preference  for  her  society  after 
marriage,  nor  was  he  in  a  great  hurry  to  consummate 
the  marriage,  or  it  would  have  taken  place  on  her 
arrival  in  Sicily,  whereas  the  bride-elect  had  to  put 
to  sea  again  and  follow  her  bridegroom  to  Cyprus 
before  he  wedded  her. 

Affairs  in  England  being  too  unsettled  to  permit 
of  Queen  Eleanor's  longer  absence,  she  returned 
overland  from  Messina  by  way  of  Rome,  after 
transferring  the  young  princess  to  the  care  of 
Richard's  sister.  Queen  Joan. 

In  making  peace  with  Tancred,  Richard  created 
for  himself  enemies  in  Germany,  where  the  Emperor- 

^  Richard  of  the  Temple,  author  of  the  IHnerarium, 


66 


KICHARD  COEUH  DE  LION 


I  I  : 


elect,  Henry  vi.,  being  wedded  to  the  lawful  heiress 
to  the  Sicilian  throne,  naturally  resented  his  change 
of  policy.  About  this  time  King  Henry  of  Germany 
was  crowned  at  Rome,  probably  in  the  presence  of 
Queen  Eleanor,  who  would  be  in  the  Imperial  city 
on  her  homeward  way.  The  account  of  the  Corona- 
tion shows  it  to  have  been  a  somewhat  humiUating 
ceremony  for  Henry,  but  it  is  interesting  by  force 
of  contrast  with  those  of  the  Kings  of  England  at 
Westminster.  Hoveden  gives  the  following  graphic 
account  of  it  :— 

"The  Lord  Pope  (Clement  m.),  on  the  steps 
before  St.  Peter's  church,  received  an  oath  from 
the  aforesaid  King  of  the  Germans  that  he  would 
faithfully  preserve  the  Church  of  God  and  the 
ecclesiastical  rights  inviolate.  .  .  .  Then  the  Lord 
Pope  brought  them  (Henry  and  Constance  his  wife) 
into  the  church  and  anointed  him  Emperor  and  her 
Empress.  And  the  Lord  Pope  sat  on  his  pontifical 
chair,  having  the  gold  imperial  crown  between  his 
feet ;  and  the  Emperor,  with  head  incUned,  received 
the  Crown,  and  the  Empress  in  like  manner,  from 
the  Pope's  feet.  And  instantly  the  Lord  Pope 
kicked  off  the  Emperor's  crown  and  threw  it  on  the 
ground,  signifying  that  he  has  power  to  cut  him  down 
from  empire,  if  he  should  so  deserve.  But  the 
Cardinals  picked  up  the  crown  and  put  it  on  the 
Emperor's  head  again.'* 

Though  peace  had  been  patched  up  between 
Philip  and  Richard,  and  both  felt  it  must  be 
maintained  for  the  sacred  cause  to  which  both  had 
vowed  themselves  so  long  as  the  Crusade  should 
last,  there  was  no  longer  any  possibiMty  of  cordial 
feeling  between   them,   and   King  Philip  was  in 


y* 


BERENGARIA  ARRIVES  AT  MESSINA       67 

haste  to  go  from  Messina  to  the  scene  of  action  at 
Acre,  so  he  set  sail  with  all  his  fleet  on  30th  March, 
the  very  day  which  saw  the  landing  at  Messina 
of  the  princess,  whose  coming  was  to  fill  the  place 
he  had  long  regarded  as  that  reserved  for  his  sister 
Alois. 


. 


" 


1 1 


CHAPTER    VII 

DEPARTURE   FROM   MESSINA   AND   LANDING   IN 

CYPRUS 


ii 


The  story  goes  that  Richard  and  Berengaria  had 
first  met  at  a  tournament  at  Pampeluna,  her  native 
city,  in  the  country  of  Navarre,^  and  that  the  Count 
of  Poitou,  always  keenly  susceptible  to  the  influence 
of  beauty,  would  have  offered  the  princess  his  hand 
upon  the  spot  had  he  not  been  bound  by  the  unlucky 
betrothal  to  Alois  of  France.  This  is  the  more 
likely  as  he  had  probably  heard  much  of  Berengaria 
long  before  from  her  brother  Sancho  (nicknamed 
the  Strong  for  his  gallant  exploits  in  battle 
against  the  Moors),  who  had  been  one  of  his  closest 
friends  from  boyhood,  and  would  be  aware  that 
Berengaria 's  beauty  was  not  her  only  dower. 

Like  Richard  himself,  she  loved  music  and  poetry, 
and  was  unusually  well  educated  for  a  woman  of 
that  time.  Richard  would  naturally  have  a  kindly 
feeling  for  the  royal  family  of  Navarre,  as  King 
Sancho,  Berengaria's  father,  had  espoused  the 
cause  of  his  adored  mother.  Queen  Eleanor,  in  her 
quarrel  with  her  royal  husband,  and  obtained  some 
concessions  for  her  during  her  imprisonment. 

On  her  mother's  side  Berengaria  had  Spanish 

*  See  Strickland'a  Lives  of  the  Queens  of  England,  vol.  i.  p.  300. 

68 


Richard's  queen,  berengaria  of  navarre. 


^M^H* 


CHAPTER    VII 

DEPARTURE   FROM   MESSINA   AND   LANDING   IN 

CYPRUS 

The  story  goes  that  Richard  and  Berengaria  had 
first  met  at  a  tournament  at  Pampeluna,  her  native 
city,  in  the  country  of  Navarre/  and  that  the  Count 
of  Poitou,  always  keenly  susceptible  to  the  influence 
of  beauty,  would  have  offered  the  princess  his  hand 
upon  the  spot  had  he  not  been  bound  by  the  unlucky 
betrothal  to  Alois  of  France.  This  is  the  more 
likely  as  he  had  probably  heard  much  of  Berengaria 
long  before  from  her  brother  Sancho  (nicknamed 
the  Strong  for  his  gallant  exploits  in  battle 
against  the  Moors),  who  had  been  one  of  his  closest 
friends  from  boyhood,  and  would  be  aware  that 
Berengaria's  beauty  was  not  her  only  dower. 

Like  Richard  himself,  she  loved  music  and  poetry, 
and  was  unusually  well  educated  for  a  woman  of 
that  time.  Richard  would  naturally  have  a  kindly 
feehng  for  the  royal  family  of  Navarre,  as  King 
Sancho,  Berengaria's  father,  had  espoused  the 
cause  of  his  adored  mother.  Queen  Eleanor,  in  her 
quarrel  with  her  royal  husband,  and  obtained  some 
concessions  for  her  during  her  imprisonment. 

On  her  mother's  side  Berengaria  had  Spanish 

'  See  Strickland's  Lives  of  the  Queens  of  England,  vol.  i.  p.  300. 

m 


i 


v.w< 


ii 


m 


,Jo 


RICHARiys   QUEEN,   BERENGARIA   OF   NAVARRE. 


I 


DEPARTURE  FROM  MESSINA  71 

blood,  for  she  was  the  daughter  of  Queen  Blanche 
of  Castille. 

Queen  Eleanor  and  Berengaria  set  out  from  the 
coast  of    Navarre    and  travelled  across  Italy  to 
Naples  long  before  Richard  was  free  to  marry  the 
latter,  but  they  awaited  at  Brindisi  the  negotiations 
over  this  matter  between  the  Kings  of  France  and 
England.    What  would  have  happened  to  Beren- 
garia if  Philip   had  not  yielded  his  sister's  claim 
IS   an   open   question,    Richard,   however,    would 
probably   have   gone   to   war   rather   than   marry 
Alois,  as  he  was  never  loth  to  find  a  pretext  for  a 
resort  to  arms,  and  the  treacherous  communication 
of  Philip  to  Tancred  furnished  ample  justification  for 
such  a  step. 

The  reason  given  by  contemporary  writers  for 
Richard's    marriage   with  Berengaria,  not  taking 
place  unmediately  on  her  arrival  at  Messina,  is  that 
It  was  the  season  of  Lent,  then  kept  very  strictly 
by  all  good  Churchmen,  when  the  banqueting  and 
feastmg  inseparable  from  a  royal  marriage  would 
have  been  unseemly ;  but,  as  the  King  did  not  set  sail 
for  Palestine  till  the  middle  of  Holy  Week,  there 
must  have  been  some  other  reason  why,  after  months 
of  delay,  he  could  not  tarry  a  few  days  and  celebrate 
his  marnage  at  the  Easter  festival ;  in  which  case 
he  and  his  bride  could  have  sailed  in  the  same 
ship  (which  etiquette  forbade  before  the  celebration 
of  the  nuptials),  and  many  difficulties  that  arose 
through  his  ship  being  driven  to  Rhodes,  and  that 
of    his  bride-elect    to    Cyprus,  would  have   been 
avoided. 

Queen  Joan  and  her  beautiful  charge  sailed  in 
one  of  the  ships  of  the  first  line-which  contained 


[ 


^p^ 


RICHABD  COEUR  DE  UON 


tt 


but  three  vesseb  in  all,  the  other  two  carrying  the 
King's  treasure  strongly  guarded ;  in  the  next  line 
were  thirteen  vessels,  in  the  third  line  a  still  greater 
number,  and  so  on  to  the  eighth  line,  in  which  the 
King  followed  with  his  galleys,  which  were  the 
men-o'-war  of  the  Middle  Ages.  The  lines  kept 
within  speaking  distance  of  one  another  by  trumpet, 
and  the  ships  within  hearing  of  a  man's  voice. 

The  third  day  of  the  voyage  a  great  storm  arose 
and  scattered  them,  and  the  King's  ship  took 
shelter  in  the  harbour  of  Crete,  being  followed 
by  many  others,  but  not  the  whole  fleet,  for  twenty- 
four  vessels  were  missing.  Next  day,  with  a  favour- 
able wind  filling  the  sails,  they  put  to  sea  again 
and  proceeded  to  Rhodes,  where  Richard  remained 
some  days,  chafing  at  the  uncertainty  of  the  fate 
of  his  other  ships,  and  especially  of  that  which 
contained  his  sister  and  his  bride,  which  was  still 
missing,  though  the  rest  of  the  fleet  hove  in  sight 
before  he  left  Rhodes. 

The  Queen  Joan  and  Berengaria  meanwhile 
had  reached  Cyprus;  but  the  King  of  the  island, 
Isaac  Comnenus,  first  discourteously  refused  to 
permit  them  to  land,  then  tried  to  persuade  them  to 
do  so,  but  not  before  their  suspicions  of  his  good 
intentions  were  aroused,  so  that  they  tried  to  protract 
negotiations,  hoping  for  the  coming  of  Richard. 
On  his  arrival  a  few  days  later  he  found  their 
vessel  lying  ofi  Limasol  in  an  exposed  position,  the 
sport  of  the  winds  and  waves,  and  great  was  his 
indignation  at  the  treatment  they  had  received, 
Richard  has  sometimes  been  blamed  for  the  conquest 
of  Cyprus,  and  his  harsh  treatment  of  Isaac  Comnenus ; 
but  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  latter  behaved 


LANDING  IN  CYPRUS 


75 


like  a  bandit  rather  than  the  Christian  monarch 
he  professed  to  be,  laying  his  hands  on  the  ship- 
wrecked sailors — many  of  whom  were  cast  on  the 
shores  of  his  island  realm  in  the  storm  which  scattered 
the  EngUsh  fleet — hauling  them  off  to  prison,  and 
claiming  all  the  personal  property  of  the  drowned 
as  his  right.  Cyprus  had  been  a  tributary  state  of 
the  kings  of  Jerusalem  till  Isaac  boldly  pro- 
claimed himself  an  independent  ruler  and  refused 
to  send  any  more  tribute  to  Palestine.  He  had  royal 
blood  in  his  veins,  being  a  member  of  the  reigning 
house  at  Constantinople,  and  was  not  wanting  in 
valour,  but  it  was  that  of  brute  strength,  untempered 
by  justice  or  mercy,  and  entirely  wanting  in  the 
chivalry  that  distinguished  those  two  great  warriors, 
who  admired  while  they  fought  each  other — Coeur 
de  Lion  and  Saladin. 

The  Greek  population  of  Cyprus  were  skilled  in  the 
art  of  wreckage,  for  the  position  of  their  island  on 
the  highway  to  the  seat  of  war  in  the  East,  which 
for  two  centuries  attracted  a  ceaseless  stream  of 
pilgrims  and  warriors  from  the  West,  gave  them 
plenty  of  practice  in  their  lawless  calling.  Few 
offered  resistance,  and  those  who  did  were  speedily 
put  to  silence  and  slept  for  ever  under  the  blue 
Mediterranean  waves,  for  "  dead  men  tell  no  tales.'' 
The  riches  that  the  Cypriotes  had  thus  unrighteously 
amassed  added  considerably  to  the  wealth  of 
Richard's  treasury  when  he  finally  conquered  the 
island. 

Among  those  drowned  in  the  three  ships  of  the 
Enghsh  fleet  which  were  wrecked  on  the  coast  of 
Cyprus  was  Roger  Malus  Catulus,  the  King's  vice- 
chancellor.    On  his  body  was  the  royal  seal,  and  this 


/ 


i 


74 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


LANDING  IN  CYPRUS 


75 


]\l 


was  stolen  from  it  with  everything  else  of  value, 
but  later  on  recovered  by  the  King. 

Some  sailors  who  reached  the  shore  on  the  float- 
ing spars  of  ships  were  received  by  the  natives  with 
a  show  of  hospitality,  which  was  only  an  excuse 
to  lure  them  into  a  fort  where  everything  of  value 
could  be  taken  from  them  and  they  themselves 
should  be  left  to  die  of  hunger.  From  the  ships 
they  were  seen  to  be  trying  to  force  a  way  out, 
and  thereupon  some  of  their  comrades  landed  to  go 
to  their  aid  ;  a  general  melee  and  scene  of  bloodshed 
ensued,  in  the  midst  of  which  King  Richard  arrived. 

He  at  once  sent  two  of  his  knights  to  Isaac,  ap- 
pealing to  him  as  a  Christian  sovereign,  "  for  the  love 
of  God  and  reverence  for  the  life-giving  Cross,  to  free 
the  captive  pilgrims  whom  he  held  in  chains,  and  to 
restore  with  their  goods  the  bodies  of  those  who 
had  been  drowned.  These  goods  he  desired  in 
order  that  by  their  aid  services  might  be  offered  to 
God  for  the  souls  of  the  dead.*' 

The  self-styled  Emperor  pretended  to  be  in- 
dignant at  the  demand  of  one  "  who  was  no  more 
than  King,"  abused  the  messengers,  and  sent  them 
back  with  a  refusal  couched  in  insulting  terms ; 
doubtless  thinking  that  this  bombastic  behaviour 
would  inspire  Richard  with  awe  of  his  person  and 
cause  him  to  be  left  in  peace  with  the  ill-gotten 
gains  he  refused  to  disgorge. 

But  he  reckoned  without  his  host  and  brought 
upon  his  own  head  the  events  that  culminated 
in  his  death  in  captivity  in  Palestine. 

Isaao  Comnenus  had  chosen  war  instead  of  peace^ 
and  he  speedily  learned  that  he  had  met  an  adversary 
who  was  more  than  his  match  at  the  game. 


"  Follow  me  and  we  will  take  vengeance  for  the 
wrongs  which  this  perfidious  emperor  has  done  to 
God  and  to  us  in  thus  unjustly  keeping  our  pil- 
grims in  chains,"'  said  Coeur  de  Lion  to  his  followers, 
when  he  had  heard  the  message  the  knights  brought 
back.  ,  •  .  "  It  behoves  us  to  fight  manfully  to  free 
God's  people  from  destruction,  knowing  that  we 
must  win  or  die.  But  I  have  confidence  in  God 
that  He  will  this  day  give  us  the  victory  !  "  And 
with  that  he  buckled  on  his  own  armour  and  sprang 
into  a  boat,  sword  in  hand,  followed  in  hot  haste 
by  his  chosen  followers. 

Isaac  had  already  called  his  people  to  arms, 
anticipating  that  strong  measures  might  be  attempted 
to  enforce  the  just  claims  he  had  refused,  and  the 
shores  were  lined  with  the  populace,  armed  with 
anything  they  could  lay  their  hands  on,  from  swords 
and  lances  to  wooden  sticks  and  stones,  which  they 
threw  from  the  shelter  of  a  temporary  barricade 
they  had  hastily  erected.  King  Isaac,  however, 
was  on  horseback  in  full  armour,  at  the  head  of  an 
armoured  troop,  and  made  so  imposing  a  show 
that  some  of  Richard's  men  began  to  fear  the  issue 
of  the  day  and  were  for  turning  back,  but  their 
royal  leader's  courageous  example  in  the  fore- 
front of  the  fight  gave  them  fresh  courage,  and  after 
a  long  contested  hand-to-hand  battle,  in  which  the 
English  pushed  steadily  forward  inch  by  inch  and 
foot  by  foot,  driving  the  enemy  back,  they  found 
themselves  at  last  within  the  walls  of  Limasol,  with 
the  enemy  fleeing  through  the  open  gates  into  the 
back  country  beyond.  Richard  personally  pursued 
the  Emperor  Isaac,  and  had  almost  come  up  with 
him  when  the  gathering  dusk  wisely  caused  him  to 


I 


1/ 


iiB 


Yij 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


turn  back  and  not  run  the  risk  of  falling  into  an 
ambush  in  the  hills. 

So  Limasol  was  taken,  with  its  rich  stores  of 
corn,  wine,  and  oil,  which  were  fully  appreciated  by 
the  men  who  had  lived  many  days  and  weeks  on 
ships'  fare ;  for  the  fleet  had  set  sail  from  Messina 
on  the  12th  of  April  and  did  not  enter  the  harbour 
of  Limasol  till  the  6th  of  May. 

Richard's  first  care  was  to  install  his  sister  and  his 
bride  in  comfort,  his  next  to  see  that  all  the  horses 
were  landed  from  the  ships;  greatly  to  the  joy  of 
the  poor  beasts,  who  must  have  suffered  much  in  the 
tossing  of  the  stormy  seas  and  their  cramped  quarters, 
and  the  equal  satisfaction  of  the  wise  general,  who 
needed  them  for  the  morrow,  knowing  that  it  was 
too  soon  for  the  army  to  give  itself  up  to  feasting 
and  rest  with  an  enemy  thirsting  for  vengeance  only 
five  miles  away. 

So,  after  a  short  night's  rest,  the  pursuit  was 
again  taken  up,  and  a  company  of  horse  proceeded 
in  the  direction  that  the  scouts  brought  word  led 
to  Isaac's  camp.  Before  dawn  the  Crusaders'  war- 
cry  startled  the  sleeping  Emperor,  and  the  battle  had 
begun  again.  Richard's  followers  being  many  times 
outnumbered  by  the  foe  they  had  so  pluckily 
surprised  and  attacked,  some  of  them,  as  on  the 
previous  day,  lost  heart,  but  once  more  the  leader's 
magnetic  personaUty  and  splendid  courage  revived 
their  drooping  spirits  and  spurred  them  on  to  victory, 
and  soon  the  Griffons  (Greeks)  were  in  full  flight 
in  spite  of  their  Emperor's  gallant  efforts  to  rally 
them,  during  which  he  kept  his  ground  at  great 
personal  danger  until  unhorsed  by  Richard  who, 
bowever,  with  characteristic  generosity,  did  not 


CRUSADERS'  CHURCH  AT  RHODES,  NOW  CONVERTED  INTO  A 

MOSQUE.— 5f^  p.  72. 
From  an  original  photo  by  Otto  Holbach. 


76 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


al 


turn  back  and  not  run  the  risk  of  falling  into  an 
ambush  in  the  hills. 

So  Limasol  was  taken,  with  its  rich  stores  of 
corn,  wine,  and  oil,  which  were  fully  appreciated  by 
the  men  who  had  lived  many  days  and  weeks  on 
ships'  fare ;  for  the  fleet  had  set  sail  from  Messina 
on  the  12th  of  April  and  did  not  enter  the  harbour 
of  Limasol  till  the  6th  of  May. 

Richard's  first  care  was  to  install  his  sister  and  his 
bride  in  comfort,  his  next  to  see  that  all  the  horses 
were  landed  from  the  ships;  greatly  to  the  joy  of 
the  poor  beasts,  who  must  have  suffered  much  in  the 
tossing  of  the  stormy  seas  and  their  cramped  quarters, 
and  the  equal  satisfaction  of  the  wise  general,  who 
needed  them  for  the  morrow,  knowing  that  it  was 
too  soon  for  the  army  to  give  itself  up  to  feasting 
and  rest  with  an  enemy  thirsting  for  vengeance  only 

five  miles  away. 

So,  after  a  short  night's  rest,  the  pursuit  was 
again  taken  up,  and  a  company  of  horse  proceeded 
in  the  direction  that  the  scouts  brought  word  led 
to  Isaac's  camp.  Before  dawn  the  Crusaders'  war- 
cry  startled  the  sleeping  Emperor,  and  the  battle  had 
begun  again.  Richard's  followers  being  many  times 
outnumbered  by  the  foe  they  had  so  pluckily 
surprised  and  attacked,  some  of  them,  as  on  the 
previous  day,  lost  heart,  but  once  more  the  leader's 
magnetic  personahty  and  splendid  courage  revived 
their  drooping  spirits  and  spurred  them  on  to  victory, 
and  soon  the  Griffons  (Greeks)  were  in  full  flight 
in  spite  of  their  Emperor's  gallant  efforts  to  rally 
them,  during  which  he  kept  his  ground  at  great 
personal  danger  until  unhorsed  by  Richard  who, 
however,   with   characteristic   generosity,   did   not 


crusaders'  church  at  RHODES,  NOW  CONVERTED  INTO  A 

MOSQUE. — See  p.  72. 

From  an  original  photo  by  Otto  Holbach. 


wttm 


,  t^mmM''-'"'  ^ 


m 


LANDING  IN  CYPRUS 


77 


follow  up  his  advantage,  but  permitted  his  adversary 
to  escape. 

Isaac's  splendid  Imperial  tent  and  the  Imperial 
standard  fell  into  the  Crusaders'  hands,  as  well  as 
much  treasure  and  arms.  The  standard  Richard 
sent  as  a  gift  to  the  shrine  of  St.  Edmund, 
the  martyr,  at  Bury  St.  Edmunds,  and  the 
sumptuous  tent  he  took  back  to  Limasol  for  his 
royal  use  and  that  of  his  Queen,  whom  he  wedded 
the  following  Sunday,  12th  May,  on  "  the  feast  of 
S.S.  Nereus,  Achilles,  and  Pancras,''  martyrs,  the 
marriage  being  celebrated  by  Nicholas,  the  King's 
chaplain,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Le  Mans.  After 
the  marriage  ceremony,  Berengaria  of  Navarre 
was  crowned  and  consecrated  Queen  of  England 
and  Cyprus,  John,  Bishop  of  Ambrun,  the  Archbishop 
of  Bordeaux,  and  Bishops  of  Evreux  and  Bayonne 
officiating. 

There  were  unexpected  guests  of  note  at  Richard's 
wedding,  for  Guy  de  Lusignan,  King  of  Jerusalem 
(an  empty  title,  since  the  Holy  City  had  fallen  into 
Moslem  hands),  his  elder  brother  Geoffrey  (who  later 
on  played  a  gallant  part  at  the  siege  of  Acre,  and 
was  given  Jaffa  and  Ascalon  by  Richard),  and  their 
followers,  with  Raymond  or  Boamund,  Prince  of 
Antioch,  and  Leo,  brother  of  Rupin  de  la  Muntaine, 
had  arrived  from  Palestine  on  the  eve  of  the  royal 
nuptials,  to  offer  their  services  to  the  King  and 
"  become  his  men,  swearing  fealty  to  him  against  all 
folk." 

On  the  very  day  of  their  arrival  Isaac  sent 
envoys  to  treat  for  peace,  and  a  meeting  was  arranged 
between  the  King  and  Emperor  in  the  plain  near 
Limasol,  to  which  Richard  went  so  magnificently 


Pi 


\\\ 


'*i 


I 


78 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


attired  as  to  make  a  deep  impression  on  all  be- 
holders.   His  appearance  is  thus  described  in  the 
IHnerarium :  "  He  entered  the  plain,  and  his  horse 
was  led  before  him.    The  horse  was  of  Spanish 
race,  tall  and  elegantly  built,  his  neck  long  and 
arched,  his  chest  broad,  his  legs  bony,  his  hoofs 
spreading ;  in  a  word,  the  proportion  of  his  frame 
and  the  round  firmness  of  his  limbs  defied  the  pencil 
of  the  ablest  artist.    He  champed  his  golden  bit, 
and  with  restless  eagerness  submitted  reluctantly 
to  the  rein.    Eichard  vaulted   on  his  back.    The 
saddle,  spotted  with  precious  stones,  gUstened  to 
the  sun,  and  two  lions  of  gold  placed  behind  him  on 
the  crupper,  with  one  foot  in  act  to  strike,  seemed 
to  growl  defiance. 

"  The  monarch's  spurs  were  of  gold.  A  satin 
tunic,  rose  coloured,  was  bound  about  his  waist,  and 
his  mantle,^striped  in  straight  lines  and  adorned  with 
half-moons  of  sohd  silver,  shone  beside  with  briUiant 
orbs  in  imitation  of  the  solar  system.  His  sword 
of  tempered  steel  hung  on  his  thigh.  The  hilt  was 
of  gold,  the  belt  of  silver,  and  silver  plate  bound  the 
edges  of  the  scabbard. 

"  On  his  head  he  wore  a  scarlet  bonnet,  on  which 
were  embroidered  in  gold  the  various  figures  of  men 
and  beasts.  He  came  forward  with  a  truncheon  in  his 
hand,  while  the  spectators  eyed  with  wonder  the 
gorgeous  champion  of  the  Crok" 

The  Emperor  offered  20,000  marks  in  gold  in 
recompense  for  the  money  and  valuables  he  had 
taken  from  the  dead  bodies  of  the  shipwrecked 
saflors,  promising  also  to  go  in  person  with  the  King 
of  England  to  Palestine,  "  and  tarry  there  in  his 
service  and  in  that  of  God  with  100  knights,  400 


LANDING  IN  CYPRUS 


81 


mounted  turcoples  (Hght  armed  native  cavalry), 
and  500  well-armed  footmen."  His  only  daughter 
and  heiress  he  proposed  to  place  in  Richard's  care 
as  a  hostage,  and  to  deliver  up  his  fortified  castle 
and  hold  his  Empire  as  a  vassal  of  the  English 
Crown. 

Richard  assented  to  this  proposal,  but  appa- 
rently Isaac  repented  of  his  part  of  the  bargain, 
for,  though  he  lodged  within  the  EngUsh  lines,  he 
decamped  in  the  night,  leaving  his  host  a  discourteous 
message  that  he  had  changed  his  mind,  and  "  would 
keep  no  peace  or  agreement  with  him." 


5 


CHAPTER  VIII 

Richard's  conquest  of  cyprus — departure  for 
palestine — the  taking  of  acre 

When  Isaac  Comnenus  fled  from  the  EngKsh  camp 
and  withdrew  from  his  engagements  he  fell  back 
upon  Nicosia,  but  on  account  of  the  desertions 
from  his  army  his  position  daily  became  worse. 

Richard  meanwWle,  being  anxious  to  bring 
the  conquest  of  Cyprus  to  as  rapid  a  consummation 
as  possible,  brought  his  wedding  festivities  to  a 
close  and  moved  towards  Nicosia,  in  whose  castle 
Isaac  lay  entrenched.  The  EngUsh  army  moved 
forward  slowly,  suspecting  an  ambush,  and  it  is  said 
that  Isaac  issued  from  his  lair  with  about  seven 
hundred  men  to  meet  them,  and  himself  discharged 
two  poisoned  arrows  at  the  English  King,  but 
missed  his  aim,  and  that  Richard  then  in  fury 
spurred  his  horse  forward  to  dismount  the  bandit 
Emperor  as  he  had  done  once  before,  but  Isaac 
escaped  his  onslaught  and  fled  back  to  Nicosia,- 
and  thence  (as  the  inhabitants  deserted  him  and 
came  out  to  meet  Richard)  fell  back  from  one 
stronghold  to  another  till  he  reached  the  fortified 
Abbey  of  Cape  St.  Andrew. 

His  daughter,  meanwhile,  had  come  out  from  the 
castle  of  Cerine  (Kyrenia)  to  meet  the  conquering 


RICHARD'S  CONQUEST  OF  CYPRUS        83 

English  King  and  thrown  herself  upon  his  mercy 
and  been  sent  as  a  royal  attendant  to  Queen 
Berengaria.  After  this  the  strong  castles  of  Paphos, 
Buff  event,  Dendeamur,  and  Candare  also  surrendered, 
and  finally  Richard  approached  Isaac's  last  refuge 
at  Cape  St.  Andrew.  The  now  humbled  Emperor 
came  to  meet  his  conqueror,  cast  himself  at  his  feet, 
and  prayed  for  mercy,  only  asking  that  he  should 
not  be  put  into  irons.  This  plea  Richard  granted, 
but  broke  the  spirit  of  his  promise  by  putting  his 
royal  captive  into  silver  chains,  which,  though  they 
may  have  been  less  hurting  to  his  dignity,  can 
hardly  have  differed  much  in  point  of  comfort  from 
fetters  of  baser  metal.  In  this  Coeur  de  Lion  was 
probably  actuated  by  a  remembrance  of  Isaac's 
running  away  on  a  previous  occasion. 

The  rich  treasury  of  Cyprus  now  fell  into  Richard's 
hands,  and  he  celebrated  the  Whitsuntide  festival 
as  absolute  lord  of  this  Mediterranean  isle,  and, 
greatly  encouraged  by  the  succession  of  victories 
that  he  had  enjoyed  all  along  the  line,  set  sail  to 
pursue  his  triumphant  way  towards  Jerusalem; 
having  first  made  arrangements  with  Richard  of 
Camville  and  Stephen  of  Turnham,  whom  he  left  in 
command  of  Cyprus,  that  his  latest  conquest— an 
island  of  great  fertihty— should  serve  as  a  food  supply 
basis  for  the  army  in  Palestine,  and  meat  and  corn 
be  regularly  sent  thence  to  Acre. 

We  are  told  that  Queen  Berengaria  landed  at 
Acre  on  Ist  June,  but  King  Richard  did  not  sail  from 
Pamagusta  till  5th  June  :  it  might  have  been  better 
for  the  ultimate  success  of  the  Crusade  if  he  had 
stopped  to  make  fewer  conquests  and  amass  less 
treasure  by  the  way,  and  reached  Palestine  at  a 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


DEPARTURE  FOR  PALESTINE 


85 


more  favourable  time  of  year  before  the  great  heat 
of  a  Syrian  summer.  Just  as  the  fleet  was  getting 
ready  to  sail,  came  a  rumour  that  Acre  was  on  the 
point  of  surrender,  which  distressed  Richard  not  a 
little  to  think  that  he  might  come  too  late  to  share 
in  such  a  glorious  victory.  The  report  proved  to  be 
untrue,  but  hastened  his  departure. 

The  siege  of  Acre  was  "  the  first  attempt  of  the 
Latins  to  recover  their  lost  ground."  It  had  been 
going  on  since  the  summer  of  1189,  when  "  Christen- 
dom and  Islam  armed  to  do  battle  with  one  another, 
each  for  the  faith  that  is  in  him."  ^  The  two  rivals 
for  the  throne  of  Jerusalem  had  invested  the  city, 
Guy  de  Lusignan,  the  governor  of  TripoU,  being 
first  on  the  field,  followed  by  Conrad  de  Montferrat, 
the  governor  of  Tyre,  and  reinforced  by  a  stream 
of  (>usaders  coming  from  the  West.  This  con- 
stant supply  of  new  blood  in  the  Holy  Wars  is  a 
feature  of  the  Crusades  we  are  sometimes  in  danger 
of  forgetting  when  we  label  the  Crusades,  first, 
second,  and  third,  and  so  on ;  the  truth  being  that 
little  bands  of  warlike  pilgrims  were  ceaselessly 
coming  to  seek  death  or  glory  on  Terra  Sancta 
all  through  the  two  hundred  odd  years  in  which 
Cross  and  Crescent  contended  for  the  Holy  Sepulchre. 

But  for  the  misfortune  that  had  overtaken  the 
German  army  under  the  Emperor,  Frederick  Bar- 
barossa^  when  their  imperial  leader  was  drowned  in 
crossing  the  river  Calycadnus  in  Cilicia,  Acre  would 
certainly  have  surrendered  to  the  Crusaders  the 
pevious  year,  but  this  event,  which  caused  the  entire 
dismemberment  of  the  Teutonic  army,  gave  a  new 
lease  of  life  to  the  Moslem  garrison  inside  Acre,  who 

1  The  Crusaders  in  the  East,  by  W.  B.  Stevenson,  p.  260. 


.liii^K 


had  always  managed  to  maintain  communication 
with  Saladin  by  carrier  pigeons  and  swimmers,  as  well 
as  by  vessels  which  occasionally  ran  the  blockade  and 
took  fresh  supplies  of  food  (and  in  winter,  during  the 
cessation  of  hostiUties,  fresh  recruits)  to  the  garrison. 
One  such  merchantman  was  sunk  by  Richard  on 
his  way  to  Acre,  and  the  manner  of  taking  of  it 
makes  a  very  good  story,  which  is  given  in  detail 
by  the  old  chroniclers. 

Richard  was  already  in  sight  of  the  Holy  Land 
he  had  so  long  and  ardently  desired  to  see.  Sailing 
near  to  the  coast,  as  was  the  custom  of  those  days, 
for  greater  safety,  he  saw  one  by  one  the  strong- 
holds of  the  Crusaders  rise  like  sentinels  upon  the 
shore— first  the  castle  of  Margot  (half-way  between 
Laodicia  and  Tortosa)  built  on  a  lofty  hill  and  used 
by  the  knights  of  St.  John  to  keep  a  watch  over 
the  movements  of  those  strange  people  known  as  the 
Assassins  (who  owned  the  absolute  authority  over 
life  and  death  of  their  leader,  "  The  Old  Man  of  the 
Mountains ''),  then  Tripoli,  the  capital  of  the  great 
Christian  state  of  TripoU,  then  Nephyn  and  Botron, 
the  stronghold,  where  arose  the  deadly  feud  between 
Raymond  ii.  of  TripoU  and  Gerard  de  Riderfort, 
which  resulted  in  the  disastrous  battle  of  Hittim 
and  faU  of  Jerusalem,  and,  nearest  to  Beyrout, 
Gibeleth,  once  the  seat  of  the  worship  of  Adonis. 

Dreaming  of  all  those  castles  stood  for,  of  des- 
perate valour,  and  the  voluntary  exile  of  "  knights  of 
God,"  Richard's  sharp  eye  was  caught  by  a  great  ship 
flying  the  French  flag.  Astonished  that  his  aUy 
should  have  so  large  a  ship  of  which  he  did  not  know, 
and  half-suspecting  it  sailed  under  false  colours, 
the  King  promptly  ordered  Peter  des  Barres,  one  of 


r 


I 


8e 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


his  trusted  captains,  to  look  into  the  matter,  who 
hailed  the  dromond  (the  name  given  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean at  that  period  to  the  largest  merchantmen 
rowed  with  two  sets  of  oars),  and  being  told  it 
belonged  to  the  King  of  France,  brought  the  message 
back  to  the  King,  whose  own  galley  had  now  ap- 
proached so  near  to  the  strange  vessel  that  voices 
on  board  could  be  heard  and  it  was  noted  the 
language  spoken  was  not  French. 

The  dromond  was  of  great  size  and  most  con- 
spicuous in  appearance,  "for  it  was  set  ofiE  with 
three  masts  of  great  height,  and  its  smoothly 
wrought  sides  were  decked  here  and  there  with 
green  or  yellow  hides.  .  .  ."  *  One  of  the  English 
sailors  on  King  Eichard's  galley  now  remembered 
to  have  seen  this  vessel  taking  on  a  cargo  of  arms 
at  Beyrout,  as  well  as  large  supplies  of  food,  and  to 
have  heard  that  a  company  of  eight  hundred  Turks, 
commanded  by  seven  Saracen  Emirs,  were  to  sail 
in  her.  Rumour,  he  added,  had  stated  that  she 
was  bound  for  Acre,  and  had,  in  addition  to  her 
ordinary  armament,  "  two  hundred  deadly  serpents 
to  be  let  loose  in  the  Christian  camp,  with  intent 
that  the  plagues  of  serpents  that  befell  the  Hebrews 
should  be  repeated."  Why  news  of  such  import 
was  not  related  by  the  man  at  the  time  does  not 
appear,  but  Richard,  now  certain  he  had  before 
him  one  of  the  enemy's  ships,  sent  other  messengers 
to  question  her  captain  closely,  and  received  un- 
satisfactory repUes,  whereupon  he  decided  on  a 
pursuit.  ''  Let  us,'*  he  said,  "  now  that  they  are 
skurrying  away,  send  a  second  galley  after  them 
without  giving  them  a  single  word  of  greeting; 

*  Itm^  ii„  Archer's  translation,  p.  72. 


r 


DEPARTURE  FOR  PALESTINE 


87 


in  this  way  we  shall  know  what  their  intention  is,  and 
what  faith  they  hold ! " 

These  tactics  brought  a  shower  of  darts  and  arrows 
from  the  stranger,  and  this  in  turn  was  the  signal  for 
all  the  fleet  to  gather  round  and  return  the  compli- 
ment; but  the  dromond's  great  height  above  the 
water'  gave  her  archers  the  advantage  of  pouring 
a  shower  of  arrows  on  to  their  pursuers  below,  who 
were  for  giving  up  the  attack  when  Richard  him- 
self rowed  along  the  lines,  shouting  encouragement 
and  the  shame  of  cowardacy.  "  Well  do  you  know, 
all  of  you,  that  you  will  deserve  to  be  hung  on 
a  gallows  and  put  to  death  if  you  sufier  these 

enemies  to  escape  !  " 

This  had  its  effect.  Some  brave  galley  men 
actually  jumped  into  the  sea,  and  succeeded,  by 
diving  under  the  enemy's  ship,  to  tie  a  rope  to  the 
hehn  and  so  hinder  the  vessel's  progress ;  others  per- 
formed prodigies  of  valour  in  trying  to  board  the 
enemy,  and  many  had  their  hands  or  heads  cut  off 
in  the  effort,  and  fell  back  into  the  sea.  The  few 
who  gained  the  deck  fought  desperately,  but  were 
finally  overwhehned  and  driven  back  by  the  picked 
Turkish  soldiers,  on  their  way  to  regarrison  Acre, 
who,  doubtless,  were  congratulating  theiiiselves  on 
their  victory  as  the  English  galleys  retired.  But 
it  was  but  the  action  of  a  cat  playing  with  a  mouse, 
who  lets  it  run  a  little  way  only  with  a  final  spring  to 
catch  it  again!  At  a  signal  from  the  King,  who 
had  now  given  up  hope  of  capturing  the  prize, 
and  resolved  to  sink  her,  the  galleys  once  more 
swept  forward,  the  rowers  straining  muscles  of 
steel  to  give  force  to  the  attack,  and  from  all  sides 
"  each  heavy  prow  armed  with  iron  came  like  a 


.£mmm 


a mm i "■" 


88 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


battering  ram  into  her  side/'    Again  and  again  the 
murderous  attack  made  the  timbers  of  the  doomed 
vessel  shiver  and   split,  till  the  water  rushed  in, 
and   like   a   great   wounded   whale,  reddening  the 
water  with  the  blood  spilt  upon  her  decks,  she  sank 
beneath  the  waves,  while  on  their  surface  a  terrible 
tragedy    ensued.     Those    of    the    ship's    company 
who  had  not  gone  down  with  the  ship  struggled 
for  life  in  the  eddying  waters,  and  some,  including 
the  Emirs  and  ''  those  skilled  in  the  making  of  war- 
like engines,''  were  dragged  into  the  English  boats 
by    the    King's    orders,    and   others   remorselessly 
pushed  back  to  drown.    How,  in  that  dreadful  scene 
of  indescribable  confusion,  the  sailors  distinguished 
between   those   King  Richard   would    have  saved 
and  those  that  he  wished  left  to  their  unhappy 
fate,  the  chronicler  does  not  relate,  but  he  expressed 
the  opinion  that  "  had  that  ship  got  safe  into  Acre 
the  Christians  would  never  have  taken  the  city," 
and   like   the  Pharisee  who  thanked  God  that  he 
was  "  not  as  other  men  are,"  he  piously  pats  him- 
self on  the  back  and  gives  vent  to  his  satisfaction  at 
the  special  favour  shown  by  Deity  to  his  patron. 
"  Thus  did  God  bring  disaster  upon  the  infidels, 
while  to  the  Christians,  who  trusted  in  Him,  He  gave 
help  at  the  hands  of  King  Richard,  whose  warlike 
endeavours  prospered  without  intermission."  ^ 

What  would  he  have  thought  could  he  have 
read  the  comment  on  this  disaster  made  by  the 
Saracen  writer  "  Bohadin,"  who  says,  **  The  Sultan 
accepted  this  also  with  the  hand  of  resignation 
for  the  sake  of  God,  who  will  not  suffer  the  reward 
of  them  that  love  righteousness  to  perish  "  ? 

'  Cf.  lUn.,  ii 


SECOND  SEAL  OF   RICHARD   I.,   A.D.    1 198  (MADE  AFTER   FIRST 

SEAL  WAS  LOST  OFF  CYPRUS).      OBVERSE.— 5^^  /•  74- 

Original  at  British  Museum  photographed  hy  Otto  Holbach. 


88 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


battering  ram  into  her  side."    Again  and  again  the 
murderous  attack  made  the  timbers  of  the  doomed 
vessel  shiver  and   spHt,  till  the  water  rushed   in, 
and   hke   a   great   wounded   whale,  reddening  the 
water  with  the  blood  spilt  upon  her  decks,  she  sank 
beneath  the  waves,  while  on  their  surface  a  terrible 
tragedy    ensued.     Those    of    the    ship's    company 
who  had  not  gone  down  with  the  ship  struggled 
for  life  in  the  eddying  waters,  and  some,  including 
the  Emirs  and  *'  those  skilled  in  the  making  of  war- 
like engines,''  were  dragged  into  the  Enghsh  boats 
by    the    King's    orders,    and    others    remorselessly 
pushed  back  to  drown.    How,  in  that  dreadful  scene 
of  indescribable  confusion,  the  sailors  distinguished 
between    those   King  Richard   would    have  saved 
and  those  that  he  wished  left  to  their  unhappy 
fate,  the  chronicler  does  not  relate,  but  he  expressed 
the  opinion  that  "  had  that  ship  got  safe  into  Acre 
the  Christians  would  never  have  taken  the  city," 
and   like   the  Pharisee  who  thanked  God  that  he 
was  "not  as  other  men  are,"  he  piously  pats  him- 
seK  on  the  back  and  gives  vent  to  his  satisfaction  at 
the  special  favour  shown  by  Deity  to  his  patron. 
"  Thus  did  God  bring  disaster  upon  the  infidels, 
while  to  the  Christians,  who  trusted  in  Him,  He  gave 
help  at  the  hands  of  King  Richard,  whose  warlike 
endeavours  prospered  without  intermission."  i 

What  would  he  have  thought  could  he  have 
read  the  comment  on  tliis  disaster  made  by  the 
Saracen  writer  **  Bohadin,"  who  says,  ''  The  Sultan 
accepted  this  also  with  the  hand  of  resignation 
for  the  sake  of  God,  who  will  not  suffer  the  reward 
of  them  that  love  righteousness  to  perish  "  ? 

'  Cf.  Uin.,  ii. 


L 


I 


SECOND  SEAL  OF   RICHARD   I.,   A.D.    1  198  (MADE  AFTER   FIRST 

SEAI,  WAS  LOST  OFF  CYPRUS).     OBVERSE.— 5^^*  /.  74- 

Or/tr/nai  at  Hritish  Museum  photo.^aphcd  hy  Otto  Holbach. 


DEPARTURE  FOR  PALESTINE 


91 


It  is  related  by  some  writers  that  after  the 
great  sea-fight  Richard  put  into  Tyre,  but,  instead  of 
receiving  there  the  welcome  from  fellow-Christians  he 
naturally  expected,  the  gates  were  shut  against  him 
by  the  orders  of  the  governor  of  the  city,  Conrad, 
Marquis  of  Montferrat;  he  had  to  have  his  own 
tent  erected  outside  the  city  walls  in  which  to  sleep 
for  the  first  time  in  the  Holy  Land  of  his  dreams. 

Next  morning  he  put  to  sea  again,  and  soon  sighted 
first  ScandaUon,  some  five  miles  from  Acre,  and 
soon  after  the  lofty  tower  of  that  walled  city,  which, 
since  the  fall  of  Jerusalem,  had  been  counted  the 
capital  of  Palestine. 

"  Acre  was  then  girt  round  on  every  side  by  an 
infinite  number  of  people  from  every  Christian 
nation  imder  heaven— the  chosen  warriors  of  all 
Christian  lands,  men  well  fitted  to  undergo  the 
perils  of  a  war.''  In  reaUty  the  Christians  were 
besieged  outside  the  walls  as  well  as  the  Moslems 
within,  for  beyond  the  besiegers'  camp  on  the  land 
side  lay  "  an  innumerable  army  of  Turks  swarming 
on  the  mountains  and  valleys,  the  hills  and  the 
plains,  and  having  their  tents  bright  with  coloured 
devices  of  all  kinds,  pitched  everywhere." 

Even  Richard  had  never  beheld  so  imposing 
and  vast  an  array  of  miUtary  power  as  that  presented 
by  the  camps  of  the  Crusading  armies  and  the  great 
hosts  of  their  Moslem  foes.  The  whole  plain  of  Acre 
was  one  vast  Christian  camp,  while  the  encamped 
hills  were  occupied  by  myriads  of  Saracens  also 
in  tents,  surrounding  a  pavihon  of  Oriental  luxury, 
in  which  Saladin  had  his  headquarters,  and  beside  it 
rose  the  scarcely  less  luxurious  pavilion  of  his  brother 
Saphadin. 


92 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


On  the  eve  of  WHtsunday  Richard  landed,  and 
this  day  was  one  of  the  proudest  in  his  life,  for 
his  fame  had  gone  before  him,  and  he  was  hailed 
not  alone  as  a  King,  but  as  a  saviour  and  an  in- 
vincible warrior,  whose  coming  meant  victory  to  the 
Christian  hosts  and  annihilation  to  the  infidels. 

The  war-worn  pilgrims  rent  the  air  with  shouts  ; 
and  as  that  part  of  his  own  armament  which  had 
arrived  emptied  itself  upon  the  shore,  and  as  every 
man  — Enghsh,  French,  Itahan,  German  — heavy 
in  full  armour,  pressed  forwards,  "eager  to  feast 
his  eyes  upon  the  Prince  in  whom  he  trusted  for 
dehverance  and  victory,  the  ground  trembled."  ^ 
We  are  told  that  the  clang  of  trumpets  and  roar 
of  human  voices  thundering  congratulations  sounded 
"  as  if  all  Christendom  had  rolled  an  awful  summons 
to  the  defilers  of  the  Holy  Land  to  surrender  their 
usurped  dominion ;  and  as  if  heaven  itself  were 
bidding  the  man  of  Lion  Heart  to  come  and  see  and 
conquer/' 

The  sound  must  have  carried  dismay  to  the 
ears  of  the  Saracens  who,  with  the  coming  of  Richard's 
fleet,  saw  their  communication  with  Acre  entirely 
cut  off  and  aU  hope  of  reheving  the  garrison  at  an 
end.  The  Saracen  historians  relate  that  Saladin 
had  received  the  news  of  the  sinking  of  the  great 
merchantman,  with  its  picked  company  of  soldiers 
and  all  its  stores,  earlier  in  the  day. 

The  sunset  glory,  which  is  a  daily  pageant  in 
the  East,  lent  its  magnificence  to  Richard's  landing, 
and  his  cup  of  gladness  was  filled  to  the  brim  when 
PhiHp  of  Prance,  with  whom  he  had  parted  coldly, 
came  first  to  meet  him,  and,  burying  the  past  to 

1  The  Third  Crusade,  by  Rev.  W.  H.  Rule.  p.  209. 


THE  TAKING  OF  ACRE 


93 


all  outward  seeming,  went  beyond  what  courtesy 
demanded  in  receiving  the  new-made  Queen,  who 
had  supplanted  his  sister,  not  alone  with  honour, 
but  with  great  kindliness ;  taking  her  in  his  arms 
and  Kfting  her  on  shore  himself  from  the  boat, 
that  she  might  not  wet  her  dainty  feet  by  treading 
on  the  wet  beach. 

There  was  feasting  and  drinking  in  the  alUed 
Christian  camp  that  night,  and  bonfires  lit,  and 
songs  sung,  and  Richard's  men  told  of  his  exploits 
by  the  way  to  those  who  now  saw  their  famous 
champion  for  the  first  time.  Such  tales  were  told 
of  him  that  he  seemed  to  many  in  that  host  more  god 
than  man.  Rank  was  forgotten  in  that  great 
rejoicing,  "the  mean  mingled  with  the  mighty," 
national  jealousies  were  forgotten — all  the  Crusaders 
were  brothers  united  to  carry  to  victory  the  Standard 
of  the  Cross — could  they  but  have  continued  in  this 
spirit  they  would  have  swept  their  Moslem  foes 
triumphantly  before  them  and  planted  the  Cross 
again  in  Jerusalem. 

Richard's  prowess  by  sea  as  well  as  by  land  could 
not  fail  to  win  the  heart  of  seamen,  and,  therefore, 
both  the  Pisans  and  Genoese  were  eager  to  do  him 
homage,  which  he  accepted  from  the  former,  but 
not  from  the  latter,  as  they  had  espoused  the  cause 
of  Conrad  of  Montferrat  against  the  reahnless 
King  of  Jerusalem,  Guy  de  Lusignan. 

Punctilious  to  fulfil  his  agreement  with  the 
French  King,  one  of  Richard's  first  acts  was  to 
divide  with  PhiUp  the  prisoners  taken  on  the  Saracen 
ship ;  but,  with  the  strange  contrariness  that  was  a 
marked  feature  of  his  complex  character,  he  at  the 
same  time  gave  offence  to  his  ally  by  outbidding  him 


§4 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


the;  taking  of  acre 


95 


in  the  matter  of  the  soldiers'  pay,  offering  four  gold 
pieces  (called  aurei,  and  each  of  about  the  size  and 
weight  of  a  napoleon)  to  each  of  his  knights,  whereas 
King  Phihp,  whose  treasury  was  not  so  well  filled, 
had  never  given  more  than  three.  These  hberal  terms 
had  the  effect  of  increasing  his  popularity,  and 
many  French  soldiers  deserted  to  his  standard.  He 
accepted  their  services,  instead  of  pointing  out  that 
their  vow  bound  them  to  fight  for  the  cause,  not  for 
a  person,  and  that,  in  the  great  matter  to  which  they 
had  set  their  hand,  the  cause  of  England  and  France 
was,  or  ought  to  have  been,  the  same. 

Phihp  had  attempted  one  assault  on  Acre  before 
the  coming  of  Richard,  but  that  most  deadly  agent  in 
medieval  warfare,  Greek  fire,i  of  which  the  Saracens 
had  learnt  the  use  from  the  Byzantine  Greeks,  had 
been  used  so  effectively  by  the  besieged  that  his 
engines  were  destroyed  before  they  had  done  much 
execution. 

With  Richard's  coming  new  engines  and  towers 
to  overtop  the  walls  of  Acre  had  to  be  prepared  for 
the  great  and  final  assault  that  should  dehver  the 
city  into  Christian  hands ;  but  while  these  were  in 
course  of  construction  Coeur  de  Lion  fell  ill  of  a 
mysterious  malady,  which  partook  of  the  nature 
of  blood-poisoning,  and  to  which  his  brother  monarch 
in  arms  also  succumbed  a  httle  later.  The  physicians 
of  that  day  called  it  Arnoldia,  and  it  seems  to  have 
been  a  wasting  fever,  which  often,  as  in  King  Phihp's 

^The  manufacture  of  Greek  fire  is  thus  described  in  the  Dt 
Mirahihbua  Mundi,  attributed  to  AJbertus  Magnus :  "  You  make 
Greek  fire  thus :  Take  quick  sulphur,  dregs  of  wine,  Persian  gum, 
baked  salt,  pitch,  petroleum,  and  common  oil.  Boil  these  together 
Then,  whatever  is  placed  therein  and  lighted,  whether  wood  or  iron' 
cannot  be  extmguished  except  with  vinegar  or  sand  " 


case,  caused  the  patient  to  lose  not  alone  his  hair,  but 
the  nails  of  both  hands  and  feet. 

After  having  come  so  far  to  rescue  the  Holy 
Sepulchre  Richard  lay  in  his  tent  powerless  to 
strike  the  first  blow  on  the  soil  of  the  Holy  Land, 
chafing  at  his  enforced  inactivity ;  Ustening  to  the 
sound  of  anvils  and  hammers  which  proclaimed 
the  preparation  of  engines  of  war,  as  well  as  for 
the  shouts  which  should  announce  that  the  last 
vessels  of  his  fleet  (which  still  tarried  behind)  were 
in  sight,  with  further  troops  and  ammunition  for 
the  war.  The  French  King  meanwhile,  either 
because  he  really  feared  to  delay  operations,  or 
because  (as  some  historians  have  averred)  he  desired 
the  honour  and  glory  of  being  the  sole  leader  of  the 
assault,  declined  to  wait  till  Richard  should  be 
restored  to  health,  ordered  the  heralds  to  proclaim 
the  attack,  and  the  immense  and  invincible-looking 
army,  clad  in  glittering  armour,  which  glanced 
in  the  Eastern  sun,  moved  forward  to  the  walls  of 

Acre. 

From  crossbows  and  machines  the  besiegers 
poured  a  hail  of  darts,  arrows,  and  stones  into  the 
besieged  city,  till  the  Saracens  inside  the  walls  made 
preconcerted  signs  of  distress  to  Saladin  on  the 
surrounding  hilb,  by  violent  beating  of  kettles  and 
drums.  The  Christians,  however,  were  prepared 
for  an  attack  from  the  rear,  and  it  was  Guy  de 
Lusignan's  part  to  guard  the  trenches,  which  he  did 
so  effectually  that,  the  story  goes,  he  killed  ten  men 
with  his  own  axe. 

Yet  the  attack  failed.  The  murderous  Greek 
fire  poured  over  the  walls  had  slain  a  countless 
number  of  the  dauntless  men  who  attempted  to  scale 


96 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


them;    thousands  of  the  Christians  lay  dead  or 
dying.    Once  more  the  Turk  triumphed,  and  it  was  a 
triumph  indeed,  foUowing  in  the  wake  of  the  con- 
sternation caused  by  Richard's  arrival  and  the  awe- 
mspiring  welcome  extended  to  him  by  the  allied 
armies  as  an  invuhierable  and  invincible  conqueror 
Utterly  disheartened,  PhiUp,  too,  took  to  his  bed, 
and  the  shadow  of  a  great  fear  feU  upon  the  alhed 
armies  that  both  Kings  should  die  and  they  be 
found    without    a    leader.     The  royal  Uves  were 
spared,  yet  death  visited  the  headquarters  of  the 
French  army,  but  his  summons  was  not  for  Philip, 
but  for  one  of  his  greatest  followers,  the  Count  of 
Flanders. 

The  gloom  thrown  over  the  Crusading  host  light- 
ened a  httle  on  the  arrival  of  several  missing  vessels 
of  the  Enghsh  fleet  with  the  Bishop  of  Evreux  and 
many  knights  and  nobles  ;  preparations  for  another 
attack  went  on,  while  every  day  there  was  skirmish- 
mg  between  the  Crusaders  and  the  Turks,  and  the 
engmes  of  war,  known  as  "  shng  stones,^'  hammered 
the  walls.    To  one  of  these  the  soldiers  had  given 
the  mappropriate  name  of  "  the  Bad  Neighbour  " ; 
mside  the  walls  it  had  its  match  in  another,  worked  by 
the  Turks,  and  named  by  them  "  the  Bad  Kinsman." 
Yet,  though  more  than  once  nearly  destroyed  after 
careful  repairs,  the  Bad  Neighbour  succeeded  in 
shattering  one  of  the  great  towers  of  Acre— that 
known  as  "  the  Accursed  Tower  "  (from  the  legend 
that  it  had  been  built  with  the  pieces  of  silver  given 
by  the  priests  to  Judas)— and  also  wrought  much 
damage  to  the  chief  wall  of  the  city. 

Another  death-deaUng  appUance,  made  by  King 
Richard's  orders,  was  known  as  "  the  Belfry,"  from 


THE  TAKING  OF  ACRE 


97 


its  height  and  the  steps  leading  up  to  it ;  intended  to 
be  placed  close  outside  the  walls,  it  was  covered  with 
untanned  hides  as  a  protection  against  Greek  fire. 

When  a  single  stone  brought  from  Messina  and 
shot  from  Richard's  great  engine  of  war  slew  twelve 
men  within  the  walls  of  Acre,  the  Turks  became 
superstitious,  and  attributed  to  it  supernatural 
powers ;  it  was  brought  to  Saladin  and  preserved  as 
something  miraculous. 

As  strength  gradually  returned  to  Richard,  he 
caused  himself  to  be  carried  daily  to  a  spot  where, 
under  cover  of  a  contrivance  of  hurdles  covered  with 
raw  hides,  he  could  sit  in  comparative  safety  and 
watch  the  havoc  wrought  by  his  engines  of  war. 
Occasionally  he  himself  discharged  an  arrow  from 
his  crossbow  if  any  Turk  appeared  upon  the  walls 
within  range,  and  at  times  he  was  carried  on  his  litter, 
propped  up  on  silken  cushions,  through  the  host  to 
encourage  the  soldiers  by  the  magnetism  of  his 
wonderful  personality  and  indomitable  spirit.^ 

An  incident  of  the  frequent  fights  mentioned  in 
the  Itinerarium  is  typical  of  the  unconquerable 
spirit  that  prevailed  on  both  sides.  It  writ  the 
name  of  a  subject  of  King  Philip,  Alberic  Clements, 
described  by  a  French  historian  as  "  Marshal  of  the 
King  of  France,''  large  on  the  roll  of  fame.  This 
heroic  man  declared  on  the  morning  of  the  attack 
of  3rd  July,  "To-day  I  will  either  die  or,  with 
God's  will,  enter  Acre  " ;  and,  so  saying,  he  scaled  the 
city  wall  by  a  ladder,  anticipating  that  some  choice 
spirits  would  follow  him,  but,  alas  for  human 
calculations,  the  ladder  broke,  making  it  impossible 
for  any  one  to  go  to  his  aid,  or  for  him  to  retreat." 

^  Hoyeden. 


98 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


Left  alone  upon  the  wall,  he  fought  with  desperate 
courage  and  at  last  fell,  pierced  with  many  wounds. 

Not  all  of  his  countrymen,  however,  were  made 
of  such  mettle,  for  one  day  early  in  July,  when  a 
breach  had  been  made  in  the  walls  by  undermining 
and  the  gradual  detaching  of  single  stones  (which 
had  been  effected  at  no  small  expense  of  human  lives 
by  King  Richard's  offer  of  two,  and  later  on  three  and 
four  gold  pieces  for  each  stone  extracted),  an  assault 
led  by  the  Earl  of  Leicester  and  the  Bishop  of  SaUsbury 
failed,  because  the  French  would  not  take  part  in 
it  till  they  had  finished  breakfasting,  though  the 
English,  helped  by  their  staunch  allies  the  Pisans, 
were  fighting  for  dear  life,  and  prodigies  of  valour 
were  being  performed  by  friends  and  foes  alike,  so 
that  admiration  for  the  enemy  is  wrung  even  from 
the  EngUsh  chronicler,  who  says,  "  Never  has  there 
been  such  a  people  as  these  Turks  for  prowess  in  war/' 
He  also  adds  feehngly,  and  with  good  reason, 
"  And  yet,  for  all  the  enemies'  valour,  the  city  would 
on  that  day  have  been  taken,  and  the  whole  siege 
finished  if  the  entire  army  had  displayed  an  equal 
valour/* 

After  this  fight  the  combatants  seem  to  have 
entertained  a  feeling  of  mutual  respect  for  each 
other,  which  grew  and  "  tended  to  impart  a  character 
of  chivahry  to  this  Crusade  that  may  be  taken  as 
its  single  redeeming  feature/'  This  spirit  had  its 
outcome  in  the  exchange  of  courtesies  between 
Richard  and  Saladin  that  makes  such  a  picturesque 
story  in  an  eastern  chronicle.* 

"The  King  of  England  sent  a  messenger  to 
Saladin,  to  say  that  there  could  be  no  harm  if  they 

»  See  T^  Third  Crusade,  by  W.  H.  Rule. 


SECOND  SEAL  OF  RICHARD  I.,  A.D.  1 1 98.      REVERSE.      SHIELD  BEARS 
THREE  LIONS  PASSANT  GUARDANT  IN   PALE  ;    THE  EARLIESTJ 
APPEARANCE  OF   THE   ROYAL  ARMS   OF  ENGLAND.— 5"^^  /.  74. 
Original  at  British  Museum  pJictographed  by  Otto  Holbach. 


98 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


it 


Left  alone  upon  the  wall,  he  fought  with  desperate 
courage  and  at  last  fell,  pierced  with  many  wounds. 

Not  all  of  his  countrymen,  however,  were  made 
of  such  mettle,  for  one  day  early  in  July,  when  a 
breach  had  been  made  in  the  walls  by  undermining 
and  the  gradual  detaching  of  single  stones  (which 
had  been  effected  at  no  small  expense  of  human  Uves 
by  King  Richard's  offer  of  two,  and  later  on  three  and 
four  gold  pieces  for  each  stone  extracted),  an  assault 
led  by  the  Earl  of  Leicester  and  the  Bishop  of  SaUsbury 
failed,  because  the  French  would  not  take  part  in 
it  till  they  had  finished  breakfasting,  though  the 
EngUsh,  helped  by  their  staunch  allies  the  Pisans, 
were  fighting  for  dear  life,  and  prodigies  of  valour 
were  being  performed  by  friends  and  foes  alike,  so 
that  admiration  for  the  enemy  is  wrung  even  from 
the  English  chronicler,  who  says,  "  Never  has  there 
been  such  a  people  as  these  Turks  for  prowess  in  war." 
He  also  adds  feelingly,  and  with  good  reason, 
"  And  yet,  for  all  the  enemies'  valour,  the  city  would 
on  that  day  have  been  taken,  and  the  whole  siege 
finished  if  the  entire  army  had  displayed  an  equal 
valour." 

After  this  fight  the  combatants  seem  to  have 
entertained  a  feehng  of  mutual  respect  for  each 
other,  which  grew  and  "  tended  to  impart  a  character 
of  chivalry  to  this  Crusade  that  may  be  taken  as 
its  single  redeeming  feature."  This  spirit  had  its 
outcome  in  the  exchange  of  courtesies  between 
Richard  and  Saladin  that  makes  such  a  picturesque 
story  in  an  eastern  chronicle.^ 

"  The  King  of  England  sent  a  messenger  to 
Saladin,  to  say  that  there  could  be  no  harm  if  they 

I  See  The  Third  Crusade,  by  W.  H.  Rule. 


SECOND  SEAL  OF  RICHARD  I.,  A.D.   II98.      REVERSE.      SHIELD  BEARS 
THREE    LIONS   /VLSW/LVT^  CrUARDANT  IN    PALE  ;    THE   EARLIESTJ 
APPEARANCE   OF   THE    ROYAL   ARMS    OF   ENGLAND.— ^^-^ /.  74. 

Orii^inal  at  British  Museum  phctographed  hy  Otto  IlolbacJu 


THE  TAKING  OF  ACRE 


101 


two  met  together  somewhere  apart,  and  conversed 
on  the  matter  that  lay  between  them ;  but  on  the 
contrary  much  advantage  might  accrue  to  both. 

But  Saladin  repKed  that  there  was  a  great  deal 
to  be  settled  first ;  but  that,  when  peace  was  made, 
they  might  have  a  meeting;  for  after  eating  and 
drinking  familiarly  together  (as  Arabs  do  on  such 
occasions),  "  it  would  be  very  unsuitable  to  fight." 

In  those  days  the  Englishman  lay  very  sick, 
and  the  Franks  carried  on  the  war  slowly  on  account 
of  his  sickness.  When  he  began  to  recover,  he  sent 
another  messenger  to  Saladin,  saying :  "  I  pray 
thee  not  to  take  it  amiss  that  my  correspondence 
with  thee  has  been  interrupted ;  for  I  have  been 
prevented  by  sickness.  Now  that  I  am  better  I 
have  sent  to  thee  that  if  thou  wilt  I  may  send  thee 
gifts ;  for  it  does  not  become  kings  to  sbght  each 
other's  gifts,  messages,  and  tokens  of  love,  although 
war  does  rage  between  them ;  for  thus  the  laws  of 
our  fathers,  the  first  kings,  teach  us.'* 

Saladin  answered :  "  Well,  if  you  will  accept  gifts 
from  us  in  exchange,  we  will  receive  gifts  from  you.'" 

The  messenger  replied :  "  We  possess  hawks, 
eagles,  and  other  learned  birds ;  but  they  are  sick.  We 
pray  you  to  give  us  some  young  pigeons  to  feed 
them  on,  that  they  may  gain  strength,  and  then 
we  will  bring  them  to  you.'* 

Malic  Adel,  brother  of  Saladin,  a  jocose  man, 
said  to  the  messenger  :  "  It  is  the  King  of  Ergland 
himself  sick  that  longs  for  doves,  and  wants  an 
excuse  to  send  us  hawks." 

Saladin,  however,  caused  the  messenger  to  be 
clothed  in  splendid  robes,  and  sent  back  with  him 
many  fowls  and  young  pigeons  and  turtle-doves. 

6 


102 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


Again  the  messengers  from  the  Franks  came  to 
Saladin,  asked  him  for  apples  and  snow,  got  them, 
and  went  back  again ;  but  it  is  related  that  the 
object  of  the  King  of  England  was,  m  sending 
repeated  messages,  "not  to  make  those  trifling 
requests,  but  rather  that  he  might  know  the 
strength  of  Saladin  and  of  the  Kings  that  were 

with  him."*  ,1.11      * 

On  the  8th  of  July  (according  to  the  bulk  ot 
evidence,  though  contemporary  writers  differ  as  to 
exact  dates,  some  making  it  the  12th),  or  about 
a  month  after  Kichard  landed  at  Acre,  Sala(hn, 
having  sent  envoys  to  cheer  the  six  thousand  be- 
leaguered citizens  and  soldiers  of  Acre,  who  were 
on  the  point  of  surrender,  with  the  promise  of  commg 
help  from  Babylon  (Cairo),  made  a  desperate 
attempt  to  raise  the  siege  by  an  attack  on  the  rear, 
while  Acre  gave  the  remnant  of  its  strength  to  one 
last  effort  to  hold  the  breach. 

The  hosts  of  Saladin  were  driven  back  with  great 
loss,  and  hearing  that  things  were  in  such  a  desperate 
pUght  with  the  garrison  that  Moslems  had  actually 
deserted  to  the  Crusaders'  camp,  letting  themselves 
down  the  walls  at  night  and  professing  their  wiUing- 
ness  to  become  Christians,  he  despaired  of  rendermg 
them  aid  and  permitted  the  besieged  to  capitulate. 
So  the  town  surrendered  with  all  its  remammg 
stores  after  a  three  years'  siege. 

The  Crusaders  had  bought  their  victory  with 
about  thirty  thousand  Uves.  The  banners  of  the 
Christian  kings  and  princes  floated  proudly  over  the 
walls  their  engines  had  so  long  battered  and  over  the 
ruined  homes  of  Acre's  heroic  defenders,  who  were 

>  AMfaragi  Chron.,  Syr.,  p.  415,  ed.  Kinoh. 


THE  TAKING  OF  ACRE  103 

to  be  exchanged  for  two  thousand  Christian  captives 
and  a  ransom  of  200,000  pieces  of  gold. 

It  is  related  that  letters  were  sent  out  of  Acre 
during  the  siege  by  a  devout  Christian,  whose  identity 
remained  unknown,  even  after  the  city  was  taken, 
but  who  gave  valuable  information  to  the  Crusading 
armies  of  the  Moslem  plans.  A  contemporary 
writer »  relates  that  these  messages  were  written  in 
Hebrew,  Greek,  and  Latin,  and  each  confessed  that 
the  writer  was  a  Christian,  and  began,  "In  the 
name  of  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost, 
Amen." 

All  of  the  garrison,  excepting  the  Turks  of  the 
highest  rank,  who  remained  as  hostages,  were  by  the 
terms  of  surrender  allowed  to  leave  Acre.  Their 
proud  and  dignified  bearing  and  splendid  apparel 
(which  was  all  they  carried  away  with  them,  as  their 
goods  and  arms  were  forfeited)  made  a  great  im- 
pression on  their  victorious  foes.  "They  were 
wonderstruck  at  the  cheerful  features  of  men  who 
were  leaving  their  city  ahnost  penniless,  and  whom 
only  the  very  sternest  necessity  had  driven  to  beg 
for  mercy—men  whose  loss  did  not  deject,  and 
whose  visage  betrayed  no  timidity,  but  even  wore  the 
look  of  victory." 

'  HoTeden. 


!i' 


CHAPTEE   IX 

QUARRELS   BETWEEN   RICHARD   AND   PHILIP — THE 
MARCH   SOUTH   FROM    ACRE 

On  entering  Acre  the  King  of  France  took  posses- 
sion of  the  palace  of  the  Templars,  while  the  royal 
palace  was  apportioned  to  King  Richard  and  Queen 
Berengaria,  with  Queen  Joan  and  the  ladies  of  their 
suites,  including  the  Cyprian  princess,  the  daughter 
of  Isaac  Comnenus.  These  royal  ladies  remained 
at  Acre  under  the  guardianship  of  Bertrand  de 
Verdun  and  Stephen  de  Munchenis  during  the 
whole  campaign,  and  so  were  spared  the  sufferings 
encountered  by  the  army  on  the  march  to  Jaffa. 

The  spoils  and  captives  having  been  divided 
between  Philip  and  Richard,  they  turned  their 
attention  to  the  question  of  repairing  the  walls  on 
the  land  side,  that  they  might  hold  what  had 
taken  them  so  long  to  win.  In  the  meanwhile  the 
Cardinal  Legate  and  great  ecclesiastics  were  busy 
reconsecrating  the  churches  of  Acre,  which  had  been 
converted  into  Mohammedan  mosques,  little  thinking 
the  day  would  come  when  they  would  revert  to  the 
infidel  and  remam  Moslem  throughout  the  centuries. 
It  was  a  stirring  time  in  Acre,  the  first  few  weeks 
after  the  siege,  and  the  hearts  of  the  most  devout 
Crusaders  were  full  of  joy  that,  as  they  thought, 


QUARRELS  BETWEEN  RICHARD  AND  PHILIP  105 

they  would  now  march  victoriously  straight  to 
Jerusalem  and  wrest  the  Holy  Sepulchre  from  the 
Turk. 

But  the  King  of  France  was  not  among  the 
enthusiasts — far  from  it ;  a  whisper  went  abroad  that 
he  wished  to  desert  his  ally  and  return  home.  It 
is  conceivable  that,  owing  to  the  return  of  his  former 
illness — a  French  historian  tells  of  the  fever  that 
wasted  his  frame  and  of  the  suspicion  that  he  had 
been  poisoned — he  felt  himself  physically  unable  to 
take  the  leadership  of  the  French  army  any  longer, 
recovery  in  the  tropical  heat  of  a  Syrian  summer 
being  almost  impossible.  The  accounts  of  French 
and  English  historians  differ  very  widely,  each 
making  good  the  case  of  their  own  King — one 
French  writer  ^  asserts  that  during  Phihp's  illness 
Richard  visited  him  and  gave  him  false  informa- 
tion of  the  death  of  his  son,  with  the  malicious  in- 
tention of  bringing  about  worse  conditions,  if  not 
PhiUp's  death,  by  the  ill  news.  This  writer  states 
that  the  intention  was  frustrated  by  the  gallant  spirit 
PhiUp  showed  in  his  reply :  "  Needs  must  I  now 
take  heart  all  the  more,  seeing  that,  if  I  die  in  this 
country,  the  realm  of  France  will  be  without  an 
heir.^' 

This  story,  however,  is  wholly  inconsistent  with 
all  that  is  known  of  Richard's  character.  Malice  was 
not  in  his  line,  nor  deliberate  plotting  to  injure 
any  one,  even  an  enemy,  though  he  could  be  brutally 
cruel  in  a  moment  of  anger.  The  conduct  and  motive 
here  attributed  to  him  was  more  worthy  of  his 
brother  John.  He  may  have  tactlessly  blurted 
out  the  news  of  Philip's  son's  illness  in  France,  and 

*  Eracles  ,179. 


n 


106 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


in  that  remarkable .  way  in  which  plain  facts  can 
be  embroidered  in  repetition,  the  story  must  have 
grown  to  its  proportions  in  the  chronicler's  version. 

The  fact  of  its  narration  shows  the  atmosphere 
of  mutual  suspicion  and  distrust  that  surrounded 
the  t^'o  Kings  and  made  them  attribute  the  worst 
motives  to  each  other.  Philip's  jealousy  of  the 
man  who  "  owed  him  homage  for  half  his  dominions/' 
and  yet  *'  outshone  him  in  courage,  munificence,  and 
all  that  could  concihate  popularity,"  was  very 
natural;  so  was  Richard's  distrust  of  Philip  and 
dissatisfaction  at  his  resolve  to  return  home,  for 
had  not  the  King  of  France  taken  the  Cross  and 
accompanied  him  to  the  Holy  Land,  Richard  would 
have  hesitated  to  leave  his  French  dominions  for 
fear  of  Philip's  influence  being  used  to  stir  up  dis- 
satisfaction in  his  absence,  and  make  this  the  excuse 
for  aggrandisement.  With  Philip  in  France  it  was 
difl&cult  for  Richard  to  remain  in  Palestine  and 
preserve  an  easy  mind. 

However,  he  let  his  half-hearted  ally  go  without 
an  open  rupture,  and  even  presented  him  with  two 
of  his  best  galleys  to  increase  his  fleet,  only  exacting 
an  oath  that  Philip  "  would  not  wittingly  or  wilfully 
do  any  harm  against  his  men  and  lands  so  long  as 
King  Richard  continued  in  his  pilgrimage  " — an  oath 
that  PhiUp  honoured  in  the  breach  rather  than  the 
observance.  Phihp  sailed  for  home  on  1st  August, 
leaving  the  bulk  of  his  army  under  the  leadership 
of  the  Duke  of  Burgimdy,  with  Richard  nominally 
Commander-in-chief,  but  practically  with  only 
authority  over  a  part  of  the  army,  which  was  spUt 
up  into  the  adherents  of  Conrad  de  Montferrat  and 
Guy  de  Lusignan,  for  long  the  rival  claimants  to  the 


QUARRELS  BETWEEN  RICHARD  AND  PHILIP  107 

throne  of  Jerusalem  (that  empty  title  which,  for  all 
that  it  sounded  so  much  and  meant  so  httle,  was  a 
powerful  factor  in  the  game  that  PhiUp  and  Richard 
were  playing,  with  Conrad  and  Guy  for  their  respect- 
ive partners).  The  King  of  France,  relates  a  French 
historian,  Will  le  Briton,  "before  starting,  told, 
out  of  his  own  means,  pay  to  support  500  knights 
for  three  years.  To  these  he  added  1000  foot  soldiers, 
whose  business  it  was  watchfully  and  faithfully  to 
fight  in  his  stead  for  the  Holy  Sepulchre."  After 
Philip's  departure  the  time  drew  near  for  the  fulfil- 
ment of  the  Saracen's  engagement  to  dehver  up  the 
Christian  captives  and  "  discharge  the  first  payment 
of  the  ransom  agreed  upon,  as  well  as  to  restore  the 

Holy  Cross." 

Saladin  delayed,  and  asked  for  more  time,  re- 
peating this  manoeuvre  more  than  once,  sending 
presents  meanwhile,  perhaps  because  he  could  not 
collect  sufficient  money  to  meet  his  engagement, 
nor  find  the  prisoners  who  were  scattered  over  the 
country.  Richard,  after  waiting  three  weeks,  lost 
patience,  and  in  a  fit  of  anger  and  fanaticism,  in 
which,  doubtless,  he  managed  to  persuade  himself 
that  his  bloodthirstiness  was  righteous  zeal  "  to 
confound  the  law  of  Mohammed  utterly  and  vindicate 
that  of  Christ,"  gave  the  order  for  the  slaughter 
of  the  2500  Turkish  hostages.  This  barbarous 
deed  not  only  blackened  his  otherwise  illustrious 
name  for  all  time,  but,  like  all  ill-deeds,  brought  its 
Nemesis  not  alone  in  the  shedding  of  more  innocent 
blood— for  Saladin  after  this  systematically  executed 
all  the  prisoners  he  took— but  in  increasing  the 
bitter  hatred  between  Christian  and  Mohammedan, 
which  put  an  end  to  all  hope  of  negotiations  which 


108 


might  have  led  to  a  finn  and  lasting  peace.  The 
Saracen  account  of  the  matter  makes  Richard 
ffuilty  of  a  breach  of  good  faith  as  well  as  of  savage 
Sy,  as  their  historians  say  that  the  Uvea  of 
the  garrison  and  of  the  soldiers  were  guaranteed 
in  consideration  of  the  surrender  of  the  town,  and 
a  modem  writer  has  remarked  very  justly  that 
"  even  if  their  lives  were  not  expressly  Le^arded 
the  circumstances  of  their  surrender  gave  them  a 
certain  claim  to  be  spared." 

On  the  other  hand,  Hoveden  asserts  that  Saladin 
had.  two  days  previously,  beheaded  aU  his  Christian 
prisoners,  which,  if  true,  according  to  the  standards 
of  the  time,  would  be  a  complete  justification  of 
Richard's  action,  but,  whatever  the  motives  that 
led  him  to  this  slaughter,  it  cannot  be  doubted  that 
remorse  afterwards  in  his  better  moments  dogged 
his  footsteps  and  shadowed  his  Ufe. 

The  accounts  of  this  matter  differ  so  widely 
that  the  exact  truth  can  never  be  known,  yet  even 
the  Saracens  admit  that  Saladin  did  not  fulfil  the 
conditions,  but,  when  the  time  came  to  meet  them, 
demanded  hostages  in  his  turn,  of  which  no  mention 
seems  to  have  been  made  previously. 

The  prisoners  were  massacred  in  full  sight  of  the 
Sultan's  army,  and  it  appears  that  when  the  slaughter 
was  ahnost  over  their  advance  guards  rushed  against 
the  Christians  to  rescue  the  prisoners,  and  a  hand-to- 
hand  fight  took  place  in  which  many  were  killed 
and  wounded.  Those  slain  were  of  course  regarded 
as  martyrs  by  their  Moslem  brethren. 

After  this  Richard  left  the  city  and  pitched  his 
camp  in  the  plain  outside — ^this  may  have  been 
for  sanitary  reasons,  for  the  fearful  carnage  that  had 


H 
Z 

O 


X 
H 
O 

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H 

12: 

< 

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o 


P2 
H 

O 

X 
H 


in 
ai 

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< 

<: 

en 

O 

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< 


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til     H 


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> 

tii 

tii 
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•v. 


I 


108 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


might  have  led  to  a  firm  and  lasting  peace.  The 
Saracen  account  of  the  matter  makes  Richard 
guilty  of  a  breach  of  good  faith  as  well  as  of  savage 
cruelty,  as  their  historians  say  that  the  Kves  of 
the  garrison  and  of  the  soldiers  were  guaranteed 
in  consideration  of  the  surrender  of  the  town,  and 
a  modern  writer  has  remarked  very  justly  that 
"  even  if  their  lives  were  not  expressly  safeguarded 
the  circumstances  of  their  surrender  gave  them  a 
certain  claim  to  be  spared/' 

On  the  other  hand,  Hoveden  asserts  that  Saladin 
had,  two  days  previously,  beheaded  all  his  Christian 
prisoners,  which,  if  true,  according  to  the  standards 
of  the  time,  would  be  a  complete  justification  of 
Richard's  action,  but,  whatever  the  motives  that 
led  him  to  this  slaughter,  it  cannot  be  doubted  that 
remorse  afterwards  in  his  better  moments  dogged 
his  footsteps  and  shadowed  his  life. 

The  accounts  of  this  matter  differ  so  widely 
that  the  exact  truth  can  never  be  known,  yet  even 
the  Saracens  admit  that  Saladin  did  not  fulfil  the 
conditions,  but,  when  the  time  came  to  meet  them, 
demanded  hostages  in  his  turn,  of  which  no  mention 
seems  to  have  been  made  previously. 

The  prisoners  were  massacred  in  full  sight  of  the 
Sultan's  army,  and  it  appears  that  when  the  slaughter 
was  almost  over  their  advance  guards  rushed  against 
the  Christians  to  rescue  the  prisoners,  and  a  hand-to- 
hand  fight  took  place  in  which  many  were  killed 
and  wounded.  Those  slain  were  of  course  regarded 
as  martyrs  by  their  Moslem  brethren. 

After  this  Richard  left  the  city  and  pitched  his 
camp  in  the  plain  outside — this  may  have  been 
for  sanitary  reasons,  for  the  fearful  carnage  that  had 


z 

o 


X 
H 

o 

o 

H 


'Z     ^ 

P     ^ 

< 


O 


< 
> 


in 

Cm 
> 

u 
(/) 

< 

Oh 

< 
.J 


O 
> 

02 
< 


Illllllllll 


THE  MARCH  SOUTH  FROM  ACRE        111 

taken  place  in  and  immediately  around  Acre  could 
not  fail  to  have  tainted  the  air  in  the  great  heat 
of  a  Sjrrian  August.  His  own  men  he  compelled 
to  accompany  him  to  the  healthiest  camping  ground, 
and  some  of  the  French  he  persuaded,  but  most 
were  unwilling  to  leave  the  greater  security  of  a 
walled  city  and  all  the  comforts  to  be  enjoyed 
there.  The  dissolute  Ufe  led  by  a  portion  of 
the  French  army  in  Acre,  who  indulged  freely  in 
the  luxury  of  ''wine,  women,  and  song,''  unfitted 
them  for  the  stress  and  strain  of  the  coming  march 
to  Jaffa  and  Ascalon,  and  put  their  more  high- 
minded  fellow-soldiers  to  shame.  To  stop  the  evil 
to  some  extent,  Kichard  gave  orders  that  no  women 
should  be  permitted  to  accompany  the  army  on 
its  march  "except  the  washerwomen,  who  would 
go  on  foot  and  could  not  be  a  burden."  The 
Tommies  of  those  days  had  not  learnt  to  do  their 
own  washing. 

The  eighty  miles  of  coast  that  He  between 
Acre  and  Jaffa  is  almost  a  straight  line,  and  was 
covered  by  the  soldiers  of  the  first  Crusade  in 
less  than  ten  days.  The  first  stage  to  Haifa  lies 
along  the  shore,  traversing  sands  firm  as  a  biUiard- 
table  near  the  water's  edge,  but  if  the  marching  line 
were  of  great  width  the  soldiers  on  the  landward 
side  would  have  had  to  struggle  through  shrub  and 
brushwood. 

It  seems  curiously  out  of  character  with  the  reli- 
gious aspect  of  the  Crusades  and  the  prominent  part 
played  as  leaders  by  great  ecclesiastics,  that  a  Sunday 
("the  morrow  of  St.  Bartholomew,  25th  August") 
should  have  been  selected  for  the  strenuous  work  of 
the  first  day's  march,  instead  of  the  men  being 


112 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


permitted  a  day  of  rest  in  which  to  fortify  them- 
selves by  religious  rites  and  meditation  for  the 
sacred  undertaking  to  which  they  were  vowed. 

It  may  be  that  the  old  proverb  of  "  The  better 
the  day  the  better  the  deed ''  expressed  the  senti- 
ments of  the  leaders,  and  that  they  thought  the 
Sabbath  could  not  be  better  spent  than  in  the  first 
stage  of  the  march  to  Jerusalem  to  rescue  the  Holy 
Sepulchre. 

The  army,  we  are  told,  was  ranged  in  battalions, 
King  Eichard  leading  the  van  (which  was  to  consist 
on  alternate  days  of  the  Templars  and  Hospitallers) 
and  the  Duke  of  Burgundy  bringing  up  the  rear, 
while  the  Royal  Standard  of  England  and  Normandy 
floated  proudly  in  the  midst,  surrounded  by  a  chosen 
company  of  Norman  knights,  each  of  whom  was 
ready  to  lay  down  his  life  for  the  flag. 

There  is  a  very  interesting  explanation  given 
by  the  old  chroniclers  of  the  origin  of  the  word 
Standard :  "  It  consists  of  a  very  tall  pole,  as  it  were, 
the  mast  of  a  ship,  made  up  of  most  soUd  timber- 
work  well  jointed,  cunningly  carved,  and  covered 
with  iron  so  as  not  to  fall  a  prey  to  sword  or  axe 
or  fire  ...  if  by  any  chance  it  is  cast  down  the  army 
is  thrown  into  confusion  and  flight.  Wherefore, 
because  it  stands  so  strongly  fitted  together  as  a 
sign  for  the  people,  it  is,  from  its  thus  standing, 
called  the  Standard.  It  is  set  on  wheels  with 
no  small  advantage,  in  that,  according  as  the  fortune 
of  the  battle  varies,  it  can  be  brought  forward  if  the 
enemy  give  way,  or  drawn  back  if  they  press  on." 

To  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Standard  the  sick 
and  wounded  were  carried  for  safety,  and  the  bodies 
of  famous  men  fallen  in  the  fight,  to  save  them 


ill 


THE  MARCH  SOUTH  FROM  ACRE        113 


from  mutilation  and  dishonour  at  the  enemy's 
hands. 

The  way  from  Acre  to  Haifa  is  still  the  "  rough 
unfrequented  country  along  the  shore  afford- 
ing no  road ""  that  is  spoken  of  by  the  twelfth- 
century  chroniclers.  Still  the  river  a  little  to  the 
south  of  Acre  has  to  be  forded  at  a  point  near  which 
the  light-armoured  Saracen  horsemen  swept  down 
from  the  hills  at  the  very  moment  when  "  a  black  and 
dangerous  cloud  swelled  up  and  the  air  grewtroubled," 
or,  in  modem  language,  the  hot  breath  of  the  sand- 
laden  sirocco,  with  its  peculiarly  enervating  nervous 
effect  on  strangers  to  the  Eastern  climate,  rendered 
the  army  least  fitted  for  resistance. 

Stragglers  were  cut  off,  baggage  plundered, 
confusion  ensued,  and  the  Crusaders  driven  to  the 
edge  of  the  sea  by  their  cunning  foes ;  these  fought 
Uterally,  as  it  must  have  seemed  to  them,  "  between 
the  devil  and  the  deep  sea,"  for  dear  life — so  forgetful 
of  personal  suffering  in  their  desperate  strait  that 
it  is  related  that  when  the  hand  of  one  of  the  Bishop 
of  Salisbury's  men  was  cut  off,  "  without  chang- 
ing countenance  he  seized  his  sword  with  the 
left  hand,  and,  closing  with  the  Turks,  stoutly 
defended  himself  against  them  all,  brandishing  his 
weapon." 

It  was  as  usual  Richard  who  brought  dehverance, 
who,  on  news  reaching  him  of  the  attack  on  his  rear- 
guard, hastened  to  its  aid,  slaying  the  enemy  right 
and  left  on  his  way,  helped  by  his  gallant  knight, 
WiUiam  des  Barres,  from  whom  he  had  been  estranged 
and  who  was  reconciled  to  him  that  day. 

The  Saracens  beaten  off,  the  Crusaders  pitched 
their  camp  for  the  night  by  the  brook  Kishon, 


114 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


■Pl» 


where  Kichard  doubtless  mused  on  the  slaughter 
of  the  prophets  of  Baal  that  had  taken  place  at 
that  very  spot,  and  perhaps  sought  justification  in  it 
for  his  own  slaughter  of  the  "  enemies  of  the  Lord/' 

As  night  fell  and  the  heralds  went  through  the 
camp,  crying,  "  Help !  help !  help !  for  the  Holy 
Sepulchre ! ''  to  inspire  the  drooping  spirits  of  the 
men  by  the  recollection  of  their  sacred  mission,  and 
the  whole  army  fell  upon  the  ground  in  prayer, 
another  host  came  to  harass  the  weary  Christians, 
who  would  fain  have  slept  off  the  fatigue  of  the 
march  and  the  fight — ^the  mosquitoes,  those  pests 
of  tropic  lands,  arrived  in  skirmishing  order,  and 
executed  much  the  same  manoeuvres  as  the  human 
army  which  had  preceded  them,  running  away 
when  pursued  and  returning  to  the  attack  as  soon 
as  the  strangers  who  had  invaded  their  land  turned 
back  from  following  them. 

Only  those  who  have  spent  the  hot  months  in  an 
Eastern  land,  where  the  pitiless  sun — not  the  bene- 
ficent orb  of  sunamer  known  to  the  West,  but  a 
fiery  ball  in  a  brazen  sky,  making  Ufe  intolerable 
at  the  midday  hours  for  man  or  beast  exposed  to 
its  full  strength — ^pours  down  remorselessly  from 
its  rising  to  its  setting,  can  picture  the  sufferings 
of  those  Northmen  clad  in  heavy  armour,  which,  we 
are  told,  became  so  heated  as  to  bum  their  flesh, 
parched  with  thirst,  stung  by  poisonous  insects,  and 
consumed  by  fever,  as  they  struggled  onwards  day 
by  day,  many  among  them  wounded  by  the  poisoned 
arrows  poured  into  their  ranks  by  Saracen  archers 
who  hJg  on  the  line  of  march,  others  fainting  from 
fatigue,  and  not  a  few  dropping  dead  by  the  way. 

If  suffering  has  power  to  wipe  out  sin,  whatever 


'  I 


THE  MARCH  SOUTH  FROM  ACRE        115 

grossness  of  life  and  unworthiness  may  be  laid  to 
the  charge  of  the  Crusaders  was  surely  expiated 
in  the  hell  on  earth  of  the  march  towards  Jerusalem. 

The  galleys  laden  with  provisions  had  been 
ordered  to  keep  in  line  with  the  army,  which  it  was 
thought  would  thus  be  able  to  secure  supplies 
without  being  hampered  by  a  heavy  baggage  train ; 
but  those  responsible  for  the  provisioning  of  the 
army  had  not  reckoned  with  the  sudden  storms 
that  frequently  make  landing  impossible  on  this 
coast,  so  it  happened  not  infrequently  that  food 
was  unobtainable,  and  the  starving  men  eagerly 
cut  up  the  horses  as  fast  as  the  Saracen  arrows 
killed  them,  and  added  fuel  to  the  flame  of  their 
sickness  by  this  insanitary  food. 

Imagination  runs  riot  in  comparing  the  victualKng 
of  an  army  of  to-day,  with  its  provision  of  tinned 
vegetables  and  wholesome  food,  with  the  conditions 
prevailing  in  the  twelfth  century,  and  is  staggered 
by  the  courage  of  the  men  who  crossed  Europe  and 
penetrated  into  Asia  to  face  not  alone  an  indomit- 
able foe  and  overwhelming  odds— but  the  lack  of 
everything  that,  humanly  speaking,  makes  life  worth 
living — ^in  pursuit  of  an  ideal ! 

The  spirit  of  the  Crusades  is  not  dead ;  it  exists 
to-day  in  an  army  which  lands  year  by  year  on  the 
shores  of  Palestine — an  army  of  men  and  women 
who  count  the  world  well  lost  for  Christ,  and  welcome 
suffering  and  deprivation  of  all  earthly  comfort 
as  their  share  in  His  Cup  and  His  Baptism,  whose 
dearest  ambition  it  is  to  die  in  the  land  where  their 
Lord  lived  His  human  Ufe,  and  be  buried  in  holy 
soil.  This  great  army  of  unarmed  soldiers  of  the 
Cross  comes  from  the  steppes  and  plains  of  Russia, 


? 


116 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


from  the  far  lands  of  Siberia ;  it  is  made  up  of  men 
and  women — (many  of  whom  are  old  and  infirm) — 
who  traverse  Palestine  on  foot,  leaning  upon  their 
pilgrim's  staff,  supported  by  the  pilgrim's  hope  of 
heaven.  It  teaches  a  lesson  of  humble,  fervent 
devotion — of  triumph  of  spirit  over  matter — to  every 
thinker  who  sees  it,  and  compels  the  admiration 
alike  of  those  members  of  other  churches  who  differ 
widely  from  the  Russian  pilgrims  in  dogma,  and  of 
the  most  hardened  sceptic  and  mibeUever. 


CHAPTER   X 

HARDSHIPS   OP  THE   MARCH — THE   BATTLE   OF   ARSUF 

Saladin,' with  the  wisdom  and  forethought  which 
distinguished   him  as  much   as   his   bravery,   and 
sometimes  gave  him  an  advantage  over  his  more 
reckless  hon-hearted  adversary,  had  destroyed  the 
walls  of  Cayphas  (the  modern  Haifa),  as  well  as 
those  of  Caesarea,  as   soon   as  he   saw  that  Acre 
must  capitulate  and  the  towns  would  be  used  as 
bases  on  the  road  to  Jerusalem,  if  left  fortified. 
Near  Haifa,   however,   the  main  Crusading  army 
pitched  its  tents   and  waited   for   the   stragglers 
to  come  up,  it  being  of  the  utmost  importance  for 
protection  against  the  foes  that  the  forces  should 
move  in  a  compact  body.    To  this  end  it  was  decided 
to  throw  away  some  baggage  to  enable  the  foot 
soldiers,  who  were  too  much  encumbered,  to  move 
more  rapidly.    Two  days  later  the  advance  began 
again,  but  on  account  of  the  thick  undergrowth, 
through  which  the  infantry  had  to  struggle,  progress 
was  very  slow,  and  only  the  eight  and  a  half  miles  to 
Athht  were  covered  that  day  (assuming  AthUt  to  be 
the  ''  Casal  of  the  Narrow  Ways  "  of  the  Itiner- 
arium). 

Tarantulas   infested   the   camp   at   night,   and 

117 


;t 


i  1 


118 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


their  stings,  even  more  poisonous  than  those  of  the 
mosquitoes,  caused  severe  swelling  and  agonising 
pain  to  the  victims.  Some  one  having  discovered 
that  these  creatures  were  put  to  flight  by  noise,  it 
became  customary  every  evening  for  the  soldiers 
to  clash  together  "shields,  helms,  saddle  gear, 
poles,  jars,  flagons,  basins,  pans,  etc/'  History  does 
not  relate  how  long  this  secured  immunity  for  the 
weary  men  after  the  noise  ceased,  nor  if  they  managed 
to  sleep  by  turns,  in  spite  of  the  din,  while  the  rest 
made  discord. 

At  AthUt  the  ships  laden  with  food  were  able  to 
land  some  stores,  and  took  on  board  men  who  had 
fallen  on  the  road  from  exhaustion — thence  the 
army  pushed  to  Caesarea  and  camped  by  the  river 
to  await  the  fleet  with  reinforcements  from  Acre, 
for  Richard  had  sent,  urging  the  "  slothiul  folk 
tarrying  there  '*  to  join  him  and  help  their  exhausted 
brethren,  who  had  endured  the  hardships  of  the 
march  while  they  luxuriated. 

On  Sunday,  1st  September,  they  set  out  from 
CfiDsarea,  fighting  as  they  went,  for  the  Saracens 
harassed  them  perpetually;  in  the  skirmishing,  an 
Emir  of  note  as  a  warrior,  of  gigantic  strength  and 
great  valour,  was  unhorsed,  and  his  head  cut  off  as  a 
trophy  by  the  Christians,  who  seem  to  have  borrowed 
this  barbarous  custom  from  the  Turks,  (the  old 
chroniclers  tell  us  that  some  of  the  knights  rode 
into  Antioch  with  the  heads  of  their  slaughtered 
foes  hanging  from  their  saddle-bows). 

On  the  third  day  out  from  Acre,  progress  along 
the  level  ground  skirting  the  shore  became  im- 
possible by  reason  of  the  long  grass  and  rank 
vegetation,  and  the  order  was  given  to  turn  inland 


}i 


118 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


their  stings,  even  more  poisonous  than  those  of  the 
mosquitoes,  caused  severe  swelling  and  agonising 
pain  to  the  victims.  Some  one  having  discovered 
that  these  creatures  were  put  to  flight  by  noise,  it 
became  customary  every  evening  for  the  soldiers 
to  clash  together  "  shields,  helms,  saddle  gear, 
poles,  jars,  flagons,  basins,  pans,  etc/'  History  does 
not  relate  how  long  this  secured  immunity  for  the 
weary  men  after  the  noise  ceased,  nor  if  they  managed 
to  sleep  by  turns,  in  spite  of  the  din,  while  the  rest 
made  discord. 

At  Athlit  the  ships  laden  with  food  were  able  to 
land  some  stores,  and  took  on  board  men  who  had 
fallen  on  the  road  from  exhaustion — thence  the 
army  pushed  to  Csesarea  and  camped  by  the  river 
to  await  the  fleet  with  reinforcements  from  Acre, 
for  Richard  had  sent,  urging  the  *'  slothidl  folk 
tarrying  there  "  to  join  him  and  help  their  exhausted 
brethren,  who  had  endured  the  hardships  of  the 
march  while  they  luxuriated. 

On  Sunday,  1st  September,  they  set  out  from 
Ca3sarea,  fighting  as  they  went,  for  the  Saracens 
harassed  them  perpetually;  in  the  skirmishing,  an 
Emir  of  note  as  a  warrior,  of  gigantic  strength  and 
great  valour,  was  unhorsed,  and  his  head  cut  off  as  a 
trophy  by  the  Christians,  who  seem  to  have  borrowed 
this  barbarous  custom  from  the  Turks,  (the  old 
chroniclers  tell  us  that  some  of  the  knights  rode 
into  Antioch  with  the  heads  of  their  slaughtered 
foes  hanging  from  their  saddle-bows). 

On  the  third  day  out  from  Acre,  progress  along 
the  level  ground  skirting  the  shore  became  im- 
possible by  reason  of  the  long  grass  and  rank 
vegetation,  and  the  order  was  given  to  turn  inland 


H 
O 


c 
a 
o 

< 


o 
a; 

Q 

1- 


o 
w 

OS 


THE  BATTLE  OF  ARSUF 


121 


and  follow  the  line  of  coast  along  the  hills;  this 
movement  brought  the  Christians  into  closer  con^ 
tact  with  Saladin's  army,  and  so  incessant  was  the 
shower  of  arrows  pom-ed  upon  them  that  the 
Templars  lost  nearly  all  their  horses,  the  poor 
creatures  being  without  the  protection  of  mail  worn 
by  their  masters. 

As  the  army  approached  the  wooded  country 
near  Arsuf,  it  was  rumoured  that  the  enemy  lay  in 
ambush  in  the  forest ;  but,  if  this  were  so,  they  did 
not  attack,  but  permitted  the  Crusaders  to  pass 
through,  probably  because  open  country  suited 
better  for  the  kind  of  warfare  in  which  they  excelled 
—swooping  down  upon  the  enemy  and  then  retreat- 
ing on  their  swift  horses  with  ahnost  incredible 
quickness. 

Scouts  who  were  sent  out  brought  back  word 
that  Saladin's  army  numbered  300,000,  or  three 
times  the  strength  of  the  alhed  EngKsh  and 
French  forces.  There  was  Uttle  sleep  in  the 
Crusaders'  camp  that  night,  for  they  knew  an 
attack  to  be  imminent. 

It    did    not    come,    however,    till    they    were 
on    the    march   next   morning,    arranged    in   five 
battaUons  under  picked  leaders,   "men  of   great 
skill    in    warfare,    warriors    whose    betters    were 
not  found  on  earth."    The  Templars  led,  followed 
by  the  Bretons  and  the  men  of  Anjou,  these  again 
followed  by  those  of  Poitou;   the  Standard  came 
next,  guarded  by  the  Normans  and  English,  and 
then  the  Hospitallers,  marching  so  close  together 
"  that  an  apple  could  not  be  thrown  to  the  ground 
without  touching  the  men  on  their  horses."    Bow- 
men and  crossbowmen  brought  up  the  rear.    The 
7 


4       t 


122 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  UON 


King  and  Duke  of  Burgundy  were  everywhere, 
keepinc  a  watchful  eye  on  the  enemy,  and  encour- 
agiig  their  own  men.  The  provision  and  baggage 
waggons  were  placed  for  security  between  the 
army  and  the  sea.  So  the  compact  mass  slowly 
moved  forward,  with  banners  flying,  armour  glitter- 
ing in  the  sun,  and  aU  the  pomp  and  circum- 
BtLce  of  Western  warfare.  Ite  ve^  appearance 
would  have  been  terrifying  to  a  less  indomitable 
foe.  but  Saladin  had  fight'ing  for  him.  not  alone 
his  brave  Saracens,  but  men  of  distant  countries 
and  strange  tribes,  who  shared  his  eagerness  to  wipe 
the  Christians  ofi  the  face  of  the  earth.  From 
the  farthest  comers  of  his  Empire  he  had  summoned 
them,  and  they  had  come  to  fight  against  the  enemies 
of  their  faith. 

At  a  signal  from  Saladin,  about  nine  o'clock  in  the 
morning  a  flank  attack  began  with  the  onslaught 
of  about  ten  thousand  Turks,  hurling  darts  and 
arrows,  and  uttering  fierce  battle-cries.  These  were 
foUowed  by  Soudanese,  whose  coal-black  grimiing 
faces  carried  dismay  to  the  Crusaders'  hearts,  for 
they  held  them  "  a  race  of  daemons  " — ^nor  did  they 
think  very  differently  of  the  Bedouins, "  a  people  light 
of  foot  and  most  eager  for  battle,"  who,  to  the 
sound  of  barbaric  music,  "on  steeds  swifter  than 
eagles,  thundered  down  upon  us  till  the  whirling 
dust  caused  by  their  rapid  flight  blackened  the 
very  air."  Military  music  was  unknown  in  the  West 
at  that  time,  and  doubtless  many  of  the  Crusaders 
looked  upon  the  bands  accompanying  the  Moslem 
army  as  a  species  of  incantation,  and  believed  that 
the  powers  of  evil  were  helping  their  enemies.  So 
immenae  were  the  hosts  of  Saladin,  that  they  were 


i 


THE  BATTLE  OF  ARSUF 


123 


sufficient  to  completely  hem  in  the  Christians  with 
an  encircUng  hue  two  miles  long,  yet  still  the  order 
was  not  given  to  attack,  and  the  Crusaders  slowly 
advanced,  though  at  a  mere  crawl,  the  van  pushing 
the  enemy  before  it,  and  the  rear-guard  marching 
backward  with  face  to  the  enemy.     Richard  of  the 
Temple  described  the  position  very  quaintly  and 
graphically:  "Like   a   flock   of  sheep   within   the 
very  jaws  of  the  wolves,  our  men,  cooped  up  as  they 
were,   could   see  nothing  around   them   excepting 
the   sky   and   their    pestilent    enemies    (swarming 
up)    on   every   side.  ...  The    Turks,    too,    whose 
special  pride  it  is  to  excel  with  the  bow,  kept  up 
the  shower  of  arrows  and  darts  till  the  air  resounded 
and  the  brightness  of  the  sun  itself  grew  dark,  as 
with  a  wintry  fall  of  hail  or  snow,  by  reason  of  the 
number  of  their  missiles.    Our  horses  were  trans- 
fixed  with   arrows   and  darts,   which   covered   the 
surface  of   the  ground  so  thickly  everywhere  that 
a  man  could  have  gathered  twenty  with  a  single 
sweep  of  his  hand."' 

The  intense  heat  added  to  the  horrors  of  the 
day,  for  the  men  could  hardly  breathe  in  their 
armour  and  long  padded  coats  (which  were  worn 
by  the  foot  soldiers) ;  the  latter,  nevertheless,  had 
their  uses,  for  the  Saracen  chronicler  ^  relates  that 
he  saw  Christians  marching  with  many  arrows 
sticking  in  them,  while  the  Turks  could  not  with- 
stand the  crossbow  bolts  (against  which  their  bodies 
had  no  protection).  The  Hospitallers,  in  the  rear, 
bore  the  brunt  of  the  battle,  and  at  length  their 
endurance  could  hold  out  no  longer,  and  they  sent 
to  King  Richard  begging  permission  to  charge  the* 


1 


\^.. 


124 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


i 
'i 


enemy,  which  he  refused,  saying  that  it  was  necessary 
for  the  successful  issue  of  his  plan  of  attack  to 
endure  and  keep  the  ranks  a  little  longer.  This 
plan,  the  chronicler  tells  us,  had  been  that  six 
trumpets  should  sound  in  different  parts  of  the 
host — two  in  the  front,  two  in  the  centre,  and  two 
in  the  rear  of  the  army.  By  this  the  Christian 
trumpets  would  have  been  distinguishable  from 
those  of  the  Saracens,  and  each  portion  of  the  army 
enabled  to  judge  its  distance  from  the  rest. 

Richard  hoped  by  such  a  systematic  attack  to 
sweep  the  Turks  before  him  and  utterly  rout  them, 
but  the  signals  were  never  given,  and  the  attack 
was  precipitated  by  two  of  the  Hospitallers  breaking 
away  from  the  main  body,  crying  on  their  patron. 
Saint  George,  and  plunging  headlong  into  the 
enemy's  ranks.  This  was,  of  course,  a  signal  for 
first  their  brethren  and  then  the  rest  of  the  army  to 
follow,  and  desperate  though  not  concerted  fighting 
followed.  Richard  was  speedily  in  the  thick  of  it, 
not  alone  as  leader,  but  fighting  like  a  private  knight 
seeking  death  or  glory,  his  sword  mowing  down  the 
Turks  and  clearing  a  wide  pathway  before  and  on 
either  side  of  him  as  he  went.  Saladin's  men 
defended  themselves  as  bravely  as  they  had  attacked, 
and,  when  maimed  and  mutilated,  met  death  glori- 
ously with  unchanged  faces  and  philosophic  calm. 
Saladin  on  the  heights  saw  the  whole  Saracen 
line  from  right  to  left  flying  before  the  foe,  and 
knew  the  day  was  lost — one  entire  wing  of  his  army 
had  been  driven  to  the  edge  of  the  sea  and  exter- 
minated. Yet  as  soon  as  the  Crusaders  gave  up 
the  pursuit  the  Moslems  rallied,  and,  20,000  strong, 
fell  upon  the  rear,  while  Saladin's  nephew  Takedin, 


THE  BATTLE  OF  ARSUF 


125 


■I  I 


with  700  picked  followers,  arranged  in  squadrons  each 
with  a  yellow  banner  to  be  easily  distinguishable, 
made  an  attempt  to  capture  the  Standard;  well  know- 
ing that  if  they  could  succeed  in  this  the  Christian 
army  would  become  demorahsed  and  fall  an  easy  prey.. 
Not  all  the  valour  of  the  Enghsh  and  Norman 
knights  who  surrounded  it  would  have  saved  it  if  help 
had  not  come  in  the  person  of  Wilham  des  Barres, 
who  galloped  headlong  into  their  line  with  such 
energy  and  intrepidity,  that  after  he  had  slain 
several,  the  rest,  probably  believing  he  was  not 
alone,  took  to  flight.  Richard  meanwhile  had 
returned  from  the  pursuit  in  the  hills,  and  com- 
pleted the  rout  by  attacking  [^Takedin's  force  in 
the  rear. 

Once  more  the  ranks  formed  up,  with  many 
missing  who  had  been  with  them  that  morning,  but 
now  lay  dead  on  the  battlefield.  Victorious,  but 
chastened  and  greatly  saddened  by  the  loss  of  one 
of  their  best  leaders,  the  Fleming,  James  of  Avesnes, 
a  brave  warrior  and  a  personal  friend  of  King 
Richard  (who  had  been  seen  to  kill  fifteen  Turks 
before  he  himself  received  his  death-blow),  the 
Christians  entered  Arsuf  on  the  Eve  of  the  Festival 
of  the  Nativity  of  the  Virgin  Mary  (7th  September), 
and  the  next  day  rested  there  and  sought  for  the 
body  of  James  of  Avesnes,  which,  being  found,  was 
given  Christian  burial  in  the  presence  of  King 
Richard,  who  gave  rich  offerings  at  the  Mass 
celebrated  for  the  repose  of  his  soul. 

The  EngUsh  chronicler  asserts  that  the  Saracen 
losses,  in  the  battle  of  Arsuf,  were  7000  men 
who  fell  in  action,  beside  numbers  who  died  of 
their  wounds  later,  but  as  both  sides  were  prone 


i; 

'I 
f 

X 


126 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  UON 


THE  BATTLE  OF  ARSUF 


127 


to  exaggerate  the  enemy's  losses  and  minimise 
their  own,  these  figures  cannot  be  accepted  as 
absolute  fact,  the  more  so  as  later  historians  have 
cast  doubt  on  the  account  of  the  battle  of  Arsuf 
given  in  the  Itinerarium.  Nevertheless,  there  must 
have  been  fearful  slaughter — the  Saracen  account 
says  that  "  a  vast  multitude  of  foot  soldiers  had 
perished"' — and  it  is  easy  to  understand  that  Saladin's 
grief  was  so  great  he  refused  food  and  remained  alone, 
refusing  to  be  comforted.  It  is  a  pleasing  touch, 
showing  this  great  warrior's  real  kindUness  of  heart, 
that  it  is  related  he  went  himself  among  the  wounded, 
shedding  tears  of  pity  and  directing  how  they 
should  be  treated.  While  he  sympathised  with  the 
rank  and  file,  he,  in  his  bitter  disappointment, 
reproached  their  leaders,  the  Emirs,  rather  unjustly, 
and  these  in  defending  themselves  bore  striking 
witness  to  Richard's  extraordinary  valour  and 
prowess  in  war. 

These  were  the  strong  words  used  by  these 
seasoned  warriors  to  describe  their  adversary : 

"  He  (Richard)  himself  confounds  and  routs 
our  people.  Never  have  we  seen  his  Uke  or  met 
with  his  peer.  He  is  ever  foremost  of  the  enemy 
at  each  onset ;  he  is  first  as  befits  the  pick  and 
flower  of  knighthood.  It  is  he  who  maims  our  folk. 
No  one  can  resist  him  or  rescue  a  captive  from  his 
hands.  .  .  .  Rightly  ought  such  a  King  to  have 
dominion  over  the  earth,  for  a  man  endowed  with 
such  valour  is  strong  to  subdue  all  lands.  What 
can  we  do  against  so  mighty  and  invincible  a 
foe  ? " 

That  Saladin  came  later  on  to  see  the  tniUi  of 
theae  words,  and  was  himself  one  of  Richard's  enthosi- 


n 


astic  admirers,  is  shown  by  his  reply  to  the  envoys 
during  the  peace  negotiations  of  the  following  year, 
when  he  generously  said  he  would  rather  lose  his 
land  to  such  a  man,  if  lose  it  he  must,  than  to  any 
prince  he  had  ever  seen. 


Ml 


m 

mi 


|i|ii|ii 


•i 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  CAMP  AT  JAFFA — NEGOTIATIONS  FOR  MARRIAGE 
OP  QUEEN  JOAN  WITH  AL  ADIL — A  FRUITLESS 
ATTEMPT  TO  REACH  JERUSALEM — RICHARD  RE- 
BUILDS  THE  WALLS   OF   ASCALON 

Despaimkg  of  defeating  the  Christian  army  in  open 
battle,  Saladin  turned  to  strategy  and  decided  to 
level  the  walls  of  Ascalon,  Gaza,  and  all  the  towns 
and  fortified  castles  on  the  road  from  the  coast 
to  Jerusalem. 

He  foresaw  that,  though  Jaffa  was  nearer  to 
Jerusalem  than  the  more  southerly  seaport,  Richard 
would  try  to  seize  Ascalon  to  break  the  line  of 
communication  with  Egypt,  by  which  his  enemies 
could  obtain  reinforcemSs  and  food  supphes,  and 
that  by  dismantling  this  fortified  town  he  would 
save  the  inevitable  losses  of  a  siege,  and  avert  all  fear 
of  it  falling  into  the  Crusaders'  hands  and  being  used 
as  a  base.  Jaffa  he  had  already  dismantled,  and 
looked  forward  by  these  tactics  to  cutting  the 
invaders  off  from  getting  food  supphes  from  their 
ships  and  so  starving  them  out.  A  rumour  of  what 
was  going  on  at  Ascalon  was  not  long  in  reaching 
the  Crusaders'  camp,  and  Richard,  who  had  crossed 
the  river  above  Axsuf ,  meeting  but  sUght  resistance 
from  the  disheartened  enemy,  camped  in  the  olive 
groves  outside  Jaffa,  and  at  once  sent  a  swift  galley 

118 


N 


i! 


'"^s»/' 


:>  a 


CHAPTER   XI 

THE  CAMP  AT  JAFFA — NEGOTIATIONS  FOR  MARRIAGE 
OF  QUEEN  JOAN  WITH  AL  ADIL — A  FRUITLESS 
ATTEMPT  TO  REACH  JERUSALEM — RICHARD  RE- 
BUILDS  THE   WALLS   OF   ASCALON 

Despairing  of  defeating  the  Christian  army  in  open 
battle,  Saladin  turned  to  strategy  and  decided  to 
level  the  walls  of  Ascalon,  Gaza,  and  all  the  towns 
and  fortified  castles  on  the  road  from  the  coast 
to  Jerusalem. 

He  foresaw  that,  though  Jaffa  was  nearer  to 
Jerusalem  than  the  more  southerly  seaport,  Richard 
would  try  to  seize  Ascalon  to  break  the  line  of 
communication  with  Egypt,  by  which  his  enemies 
could  obtain  reinforcements  and  food  supplies,  and 
that  by  dismantling  this  fortified  town  he  would 
save  the  inevitable  losses  of  a  siege,  and  avert  all  fear 
of  it  faUing  into  the  Crusaders'  hands  and  being  used 
as  a  base.  Jaffa  he  had  already  dismantled,  and 
looked  forward  by  these  tactics  to  cutting  the 
invaders  off  from  getting  food  supplies  from  their 
ships  and  so  starving  them  out.  A  rumour  of  what 
was  going  on  at  Ascalon  was  not  long  in  reaching 
the  Crusaders'  camp,  and  Richard,  who  had  crossed 
the  river  above  Arsuf ,  meeting  but  slight  resistance 
from  the  disheartened  enemy,  camped  in  the  olive 
groves  outside  Jaffa,  and  at  once  sent  a  swift  galley 

128 


*  ■ 


I 


X 


in 

O 


a 

u 

< 

o 


o 

w 

X 

H 


•V. 


•& 


THE  CAMP  AT  JAFFA 


131 


to  Ascalon  to  find  out  if  the  report  were  true.    On 
receiving  confirmation  of  it  he  immediately  called 
a  council  of  war,  and  proposed  to  the  Dukes  of 
Burgundy  and  Austria  to  hasten  to  the  rescue  of  this 
important  fortress,  and  stop  the  work  of  demolition 
before  it  was   too   late;   but  they,  less  energetic 
and    enthusiastic    than    Richard,    were   weary    of 
fighting,  and  preferred  to  follow  the  Hne  of  least 
resistance  by  pursuing  the  easier  plan  of  rebuilding 
the  walls  of  Jaffa  and  marching  thence  to  the  Holy 
City.    The  majority  carried  the  day,  and  Richard's 
wise  counsel— which  might  have  given  all  Palestine 
into  his  hands  and  ended  the  campaign  triumphantly 
for  the  Christian  arms — ^was  neglected.    The  army 
remained   at   Jaffa,  revelling   in   its   gardens  and 
orchards  with  their  plentiful  supply  of  grapes,  figs, 
pomegranates,  and  other  luscious  fruit,  while  the 
city  walls  were  gradually  repaired.    Richard  chafed 
at  the  delay,  but  tried  to  forget  his  disappointment 
in  the  pleasure  of  the  chase,  which  was  not  without 
danger,  for  his  enemies  were  lying  in  wait  wherever 
he  went,  in  the  hope  of  capturing  so  great  a  prize 
as  the  warrior  King  "  Melek.''    On  one  of  these 
occasions,  wearied  by  his  exertion  in  the  noonday 
heat,  Richard  fell  asleep,  and  the  Turks,  seeing  this 
from  afar,  rushed   forward   exultantly  to   capture 
him ;  but  the  noise  of  their  approach  wakened  the 
King  and  his  followers  just  in  time  for  the  former 
to  jump  upon  his  famous  horse  and  his  knights 
to  follow  him.    But  it  was  to  the  devotion  of  one 
of  their  number,  WiUiam  de  Preaux,  he  owed  his  hf e, 
for  the  Saracens  pursued  their  usual  tactics  of  leading 
the  little  band  into  an  ambush  by  feigning  flight 
and   drawing   the    King   and   his   followers  to  a 


132 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


spot  where  a  krger  body  set  on  them.  Knowing 
that  the  aim  of  the  Turks  was  solely  to  catch 
Richard,  William  de  Preaux  called  out  in  the  Saracen 
language  that  he  was  the  King,  and  thus  concentrated 
the  enemy  on  himself  while  the  real  King  had 
time  to  escape  before  the  ruse  was  discovered. 

Ease  as  before  worked  havoc  with  that  portion 
of  the  army  which  were  pilgrims  in  name  only; 
drunkenness  and  vice  of  all  sorts  appeared  in  the 
camp  as  soon  as  fighting  ceased,  and  not  a  few 
faint-hearted  soldiers  deserted  and  sailed  back  to 
Acre,  where  Guy  de  Lusignan  was  sent  to  reason 
with  them  and  bring  them  to  a  better  state  of 
mind.  As^the  results  of  his  embassy  were  only 
partially  successful,  early  in  October  Richard  went 
himself  and  pleaded  in  the  name  of  religion  with 
those  who  had  taken  the  Cross  and  were  now,  after 
"  having  put  theur  hand  to  the  plough,'*  turning 
their  backs  on  "  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 

His  eloquence  moved  many  to  repentance,  who, 
as  well  as  the  two  Queens,  Berengaria  and  Joan, 
accompanied  him  on  his  return  to  JafEa ;  by  the  end 
of  October  the  army  there  was  made  up  to  its  original 
strength.  Negotiations  for  peace  had  been  going 
W  before  the  Bang  set  out  on  his  northward  journey, 
and  were  at  once  renewed  on  his  return.  Richard 
had  information  that  there  were  deserters  from 
Saladin's  camp  as  well  as  from  his  own,  many  of  the 
tribes  from  afar  desiring  to  return  to  their  own  land, 
having  taken  French  leave  to  do  so,  and  he  judged 
the  moment  favourable  to  overtures,  as  both  sides 
were  suffering  from  the  action  of  defaulters  and  had 
temporarily  had  enough  of  fighting. 

An   arrangement   favourable   to   the   Christian 


1* 


MARRIAGE  NEGOTIATIONS 


133 


cause  might  have  been  arrived  at,  had  not  Saladin 
been  apprised  of  the  disunion  among  the  leaders 
of  the   Crusade  by  receiving  overtures  from  the 
Marquis  of  Montferrat  at  the  same  time.    Conrad, 
who  hated  Richard  for  having  espoused  the  cause 
of  his  rival.  King  Guy,  and  must  have  acted  through- 
out from  no  higher  motives  than  ambition  and  self- 
interest,  offered  to  ally  himself  with  the  Moslems 
against  Richard  if  Beyrout  and  Sidon  were  given  him 
in  addition  to  Tyre,  of  which  he  was  already  Governor. 
Saladin,    with    true    Oriental    diplomacy,    was 
prepared   to  treat  with  the  ambassadors  of  both 
parties  and  play  off  one  against  the  other— negotia- 
tions suited  his  plans  as  they  delayed  action  till  the 
winter  storms  and  rains  should  render  the  road 
to  Jerusalem  impassable.    Richard's  frank  nature 
did  not  see  through  the  Eastern  cunning.    A  brave 
man  himself,  his  heart  went  out  to  his  foe,  whom 
he  had  found  worthy  of  his  steel.    He  was  as  ready 
to  bury  the  hatchet  as  to  draw  the  sword,  and  more 
than  willing  to  meet  him  half-way  in  overtures  of 
peace.     Recognising,  in  advance  of  his  time,  that 
nobility  of   character  f^as  not  confined  to  those 
who  professed  the  Christian  faith,  he  even  went 
so  far  as  to  propose  a  marriage  between  the  widowed 
Queen    Joan  and  Al  Adil,   Saladin's    ambassador 
(for  whom  in  the  frequent  meetings  to  discuss  the 
question  of  a  treaty  he  seems  to  have  formed  a 
cordial  liking).     It  was  proposed  that  both  Saladin 
and  Richard  should  yield  their  conquests  to  these 
joint  representatives  of  East  and  West,  but  certain 
villages  should  be  handed  over  to  the  military  orders 
of  the   Hospitallers   and   the   Templars,   and   the 
Christians'  priests  allowed  in  the  monasteries  and 


III 


Hi 


134 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  UON 


:  l|.<! 


I 


churches  at  Jerusalem.    The  Holy  Cross  was  to  be 
restored  to  the  Christians  as  promised  at  the  surrender 

of  Acre. 

The  Saracen  chronicler  relates  that  Saladin 
accepted  this  proposal,  but  did  not  really  beUeve 
that  Richard  meant  it  seriously,  or  would  carry  it 
out ;  perhaps  for  this  reason  he  thought  he  could 
safely  assent,  and  thus  gain  time.  Richard  was 
probably  quite  in  earnest,  but  he  had  overrated 
his  influence  with  his  sister,  whom  he  does  not 
appear  to  have  consulted  about  the  matter  before- 
hand; that  lady  upset  all  his  calculations  by  not 
unnaturally  emphatically  refusing  to  marry  a  Moslem, 
upon  which,  not  to  be  done,  Richard  ventured  to 
suggest  that  Al  Adil  should  embrace  Christianity  ! 

While  this  was  going  on  Saladin  had  given 
special  audience  to  the  Marquis  of  Montferrat, 
the  "  lord  of  Sidon,''  who  arrived  with  a  splendid 
train  and  was  as  splendidly  entertained,  and 
with  whom  Saladin  personally  desired  an  alliance. 
The  majority  of  his  councillors,  however,  headed 
by  Al  Adil,  preferred  Richard's  proposal,  having 
more  confidence  in  him  than  in  the  Franks,  so 
the  Marquis  had  the  mortification  of  having  his 
overtures  finally  rejected,  though  for  some  time  his 
friendly  relations  with  Saladin  and  the  sight  of  Mont- 
ferrat riding  in  the  hills  in  company  with  Al  Adil 
caused  great  uneasiness  in  the  Christian  camp. 

Richard  now  proposed  that  his  niece  should 
wed  Al  Adil  instead  of  his  sister,  but  Saladin  would 
have  nothing  to  say  to  a  lady  of  less  rank  and 
importance  than  Queen  Joan,  so  on  this  ground 
and  others  the  conference  broke  up,  the  Sultan  having 
gained  his  point  in  preventing  a  successful  advance 


l4 


ATTEMPT  TO  REACH  JERUSALEM      135 

to  Jerusalem,  for  he  had  hung  out  negotiations 
till  the  first  rains  were  falling  in  torrents,  and  also 
succeeded  in  sowing  the  seeds  of  distrust  of  the 
King  in  the  hearts  of  some  of  his  followers,  who 
were  suspicious  of  the  exchange  of  presents  and 
courtesies  with  Saladin. 

Richard  now  went  into  temporary  winter  quar- 
ters at  Ramleh,  and  again  the  army  was  divided 
into  two  parties— the  enthusiasts,  who  wanted   to 
push  on  to  Jerusalem  at  any  cost,  and  the  more 
cautious  section,  among  whom  were  the  Templars 
and  the   native   Christians,  who  better  knew  the 
climate   and    foresaw   that   an    attempt    to   reach 
and   lay  siege  to  the  Holy  City  at  that  time  of 
year  was  likely  to  end  in  disaster.    As  a  concession 
to  the  energetic  party,  Richard  began  to  move  his 
army  in  the  direction  of  Jerusalem ;    immediately 
the  spirits  of  all  rose  at  the  prospect  of  seeing  the 
Holy    Sepulchre,    for    which    they    had    ventured 
so  far  and  sacrificed  so  much.    Armour  was  polished 
up,    faces  brightened,   murmuring  and    discontent 
yielded  to  a  spirit  of  hope  and  cheerfuhiess.    Each 
man  carried  his  own  food  so  as  to  lighten  the  baggage 
—even  the  sick  would  not  be  left  behind,  but  were 
carried  in  Utters;  and  so  they  set  forth  on  what 
they  fondly  hoped  was  the  long-deferred  march  to 
Jerusalem. 

But,  alas !  they  did  not  get  far  ;  fearful  rain  and 
tempest  overtook  them  at  Beit  Nuba i— tents  were  torn 
in  pieces  and  whirled  away,  men  and  horses  perished 
of  cold  and  wet,  stragglers  carrying  the  litters  con- 
taining the  sick  were  cut  off  by  the  enemy. 

*  Suggested  by  Dr.  Stubbs  to  be  the  modem  village  of  Beit  Dejan, 
four  miles  N,W.  of  Lydda  and  five  and  a  half  S,E,  of  Jaffa, 


136 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


The  army  set  out  from  Ramleh  22nd  December, 
and  returned  there  saddened  and  disheartened  on  the 
8th  of  January.  Each  blamed  the  other  for  the  failure 
of  their  hopes,  and  the  French,  of  course,  blamed 
Richard  for  everything  instead  of  themselves,  and 
left  in  anger  for  Jaffa,  while  some  deserted  to  the 
Marquis  of  Montferrat  and  others  followed  the 
Duke  of  Burgundy  to  Casal  of  the  Plains. 

Had  they  but  known  it,  Saladin's  army  was  also 
worn  out,  and  had  lost  large  numbers  of  their  horses 
and  mules  in  the  floods.  A  dash  on  Jerusalem, 
carried  out  with  Richard's  usual  impetuous  valour, 
would  almost  certainly  have  been  successful,  and 
placed  within  their  grasp  the  prize  for  which  they  had 
so  long  striven,  for  the  garrison's  food  supplies  had 
been  cut  off  by  the  storms  that  prevailed.  Alas !  it 
was  the  old  story  of  self-interest  and  dissension. 
The  Syrian  Franks,  who  "  were  not  so  much  anxious 
to  capture  Jerusalem  as  to  detain  the  Crusaders 
in  Palestine  till  their  own  possessions  had  been 
recovered,"  ^  again  followed  the  line  of  least  re- 
sistance, and  refused  to  go  forward,  on  the  ground 
that  they  had  not  sufficient  forces  to  hold  Jerusalem, 
if  they  succeeded  in  taking  it,  and  also  guard  the 
road  to  the  coast,  though  this  they  must  have 
known  before  they  set  out  from  Jaffa.  Without 
them  the  English  could  do  nothing,  so  the  order 
was  given  to  turn  back.  Richard,  however,  did 
not  lose  heart,  but  turned  his  thoughts  to  the  work 
on  which  he  had  set  his  mind  months  before,  of 
rebuilding  Ascalon. 

With  his  diminished  army  he  reached  Ibelin, 
thirteen  miles  south  of  Jaffa  and  eight  to  nine  from 

1  Tk€  Angevin  Emjtire^  by  Sir  J.  H.  Ramsay,  p.  306. 


RICHARD  REBUILDS  WALLS  OF  ASCALON    137 

Ramleh,  on  the  first  day^s  march.    The  sight  of 
Its  fortress  crowning  the  hill  must  have  greeted  him 
with  a  message  of  cheer,  for  its  building  was  largely 
due  to  the  efforts  of  his  great  ancestor  Pulk,  and 
would  inevitably  recall  the  brave  traditions  of  his 
race.   He  needed  cheer,  for  the  next  day^s  march  was 
to  equal  in  its  misery  the  worst  experiences  the  army 
had  gone  through  on  its  way  from  Acre,  though  the 
climatic  conditions  were  the  very  opposite.     The 
torrid  heat  was  exchanged  for  mingled  rain  and 
snow,  driven  in  the  faces  of  the  struggUng  men  by 
a  bitter  wind,  and  often  terrific  hailstorms  overtook 
them  and  bhnding  hailstones  obscured  their  vision 
and  stung  their  faces,  while  many  times  baggage  and 
horses  sunk  in  the  swamps  and  were  only  extricated 
after  a  struggle  that  left  men  and  beasts  utterly 
exhausted.     Through    the    bhnding    storms    they 
struggled  on,  numb  with  cold  and  faint  with  fatigue, 
and  so  at  length  reached  Ascalon ;  only  to  find  it  a  heap 
of  ruins  and  be  mocked  by  the  sight  of  their  own 
ships,  lying  off  the  shore,  laden  with  the  food  they 
so  sorely  needed,  but  unable  to  land  it  by  reason 
of  the  storm— a  circumstance  still  common  on  this 
harbourless  coast,  when  it  not  infrequently  happens 
to-day  that  even  the  mails  cannot  be  landed. 

Richard's  moral  victory  in  rising  superior  to  the 
defeat  of  his  cherished  plans  and  the  mortification 
of  having  his  best  endeavours  thwarted  by  the 
laxness  or  malice  of  the  French,  is  greater  than  any 
feat  of  arms  which  made  his  name  famous.  It  was 
his  energetic  spirit  that  rebuilt  the  walls  of  Ascalon. 
He  turned  mason  himself  to  encourage  his  nobles  to 
do  likewise,!  and  so  the  strange  sight  might  have 

^  Itin.  Bic,  y,  5, 


1S8 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


been  seen  of  knights  and  nobles  working  side  by 
side  with  the  men  at  arms,  passing  stones  to  their 
places  from  hand  to  hand,  mixing  mortar,  and 
laying  stone  after  stone  in  place  till  the  walls  rose 
once  more  around  Ascalon.  It  is  said  that  the  nobles 
each  undertook  to  defray  the  cost  of  a  portion  (for 
the  Crusaders'  joint  treasury,  once  so  richly  filled,  was 
getting  empty),  and  that  Richard  helped  those  who 
had  little  to  do  their  part,  out  of  his  own  private 
purse,  so  that  three-quarters  of  the  city  was  rebuilt 
at  his  expense. 

The  Duke  of  Burgundy,  though  he  had  not  ac- 
companied Richard  on  his  march  to  Ascalon,  seems 
to  have  joined  him  there  later,  for  the  chroniclers 
relate  that  he  sought  to  borrow  money  of  the  King 
(probably  this  was  the  reason  of  his  appearance 
at  Ascalon)  to  pay  his  followers.  Richard  refused 
the  loan,  as  the  Duke  had  not  returned  a  former 
advance  he  had  made  him  at  Acre — this  the  French 
leader  had  counted  on  paying  out  of  the  ransom 
he  expected  for  the  Turkish  prisoners,  which  was 
not  forthcoming.  The  Duke  in  high  dudgeon 
left  to  join  the  Marquis  of  Montferrat  at  Acre, 
taking  with  him  a  considerable  force.  Immediately 
after  his  departure  news  reached  Ascalon  of  fighting 
at  Acre  between  the  Pisans,  who  supported  King 
Guy's  claim,  and  the  Genoese,  who  were  pledged 
to  the  Marquis  of  Montferrat.  On  the  approach 
of  theTDuke  of  Burgundy,  the  Pisans,  knowing  he 
would  support  the  Marquis  if  he  got  into  the  city, 
resolved  to  act  on  the  defensive— closed  the  gates 
against  him,  while  the  Genoese  commimicated  with 
Montferrat,  who  hastened  from  Tyre  by  sea  to 
besiege  the  town,  and  actually  did  so  for  three  days ; 


^--^■"t  ■•■r-»ip«!f- -5(j 


M 


Q 
O 

X 

< 

o 
<-* 

z 
a 


H 

ai 


|: 


138 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


been  seen  of  knights  and  nobles  working  side  by 
side  with  the  men  at  arms,  passing  stones  to  their 
places  from  hand  to  hand,  mixing  mortar,  and 
laying  stone  after  stone  in  place  till  the  walls  rose 
once  more  around  Ascalon.  It  is  said  that  the  nobles 
each  undertook  to  defray  the  cost  of  a  portion  (for 
the  Crusaders'  joint  treasury,  once  so  richly  filled,  was 
getting  empty),  and  that  Richard  helped  those  who 
had  little  to  do  their  part,  out  of  his  own  private 
purse,  so  that  three-quarters  of  the  city  was  rebuilt 
at  his  expense. 

The  Duke  of  Burgundy,  though  he  had  not  ac- 
companied Richard  on  his  march  to  Ascalon,  seems 
to  have  joined  him  there  later,  for  the  chroniclers 
relate  that  he  sought  to  borrow  money  of  the  King 
(probably  this  was  the  reason  of  his  appearance 
at  Ascalon)  to  pay  his  followers.  Richard  refused 
the  loan,  as  the  Duke  had  not  returned  a  former 
advance  he  had  made  him  at  Acre — this  the  French 
leader  had  counted  on  paying  out  of  the  ransom 
he  expected  for  the  Turkish  prisoners,  which  was 
not  forthcoming.  The  Duke  in  high  dudgeon 
left  to  join  the  Marquis  of  Montferrat  at  Acre, 
taking  with  him  a  considerable  force.  Immediately 
after  his  departure  news  reached  Ascalon  of  fighting 
at  Acre  between  the  Pisans,  who  supported  King 
Guy's  claim,  and  the  Genoese,  who  were  pledged 
to  the  Marquis  of  Montferrat.  On  the  approach 
of  the"  Duke  of  Burgundy,  the  Pisans,  knowing  he 
would  support  the  Marquis  if  he  got  into  the  city, 
resolved  to  act  on  the  defensive — closed  the  gates 
against  him,  while  the  Genoese  communicated  with 
Montferrat,  who  hastened  from  Tyre  by  sea  to 
besiege  the  town,  and  actually  did  so  for  three  days ; 


ri 


r. 


O 
X 


< 

-J 

'J, 

'A 
X 


o 


r. 

X 


THE  OLD  MAN  OF  THE  MOUNTAINS     141 

but  on  news  reaching  him  that  Richard  had  been 
sent  for  to  appease  the  combatants  he  retreated  to 
Tyre,  unwilhng  to  meet  him.  Richard,  who  was 
on  his  way  north  to  a  conference  with  Montferrat, 
entered  Acre  quietly  under  cover  of  night,  and  liis 
presence  there  at  once  poured  oil  on  the  troubled 
waters.  He  called  a  conference,  and  as  he  had  some 
months  previously  worked  on  the  better  feeKngs  of 
the  French  and  persuaded  them  to  return  to  Ascalon, 
so  now  by  his  earnestness  and  eloquence  he  brought 
home  to  both  combatants  that  their  quarrels  were 
frustrating  the  end  both  had  in  view,  and  as  a 
result  of  his  efforts  peace  was  made  between  them. 

In  an  interview  with  the  Marquis  of  Montferrat 
he  was  less  successful,  and  so  greatwas  this  nobleman's 
enmity  to  him  that  it  cannot  have  been  easy  for 
Richard  to  yield,  as  he  finally  did  a  few  weeks  later, 
to  the  advice  of  his  council  and  the  wish  of  the  Syrian 
nobles,  and  appoint  Conrad  instead  of  Guy  as  King 
of  Jerusalem. 

He  was  influenced  in  his  decision  by  the  ill  news 
from  home  of  his  brother  John's  plotting  against 
him,  which  at  first  determined  him  to  sail  at  once 
for  England— hence  the  importance  of  leaving  as 
"  King  of  Jerusalem  "  a  popular  leader  acceptable 
to  the  French  as  well  as  the  English. 

By  a  strange  irony  of  fate  the  Marquis  was  assas- 
sinated before  his  coronation  by  fanatics,  believed  to 
be  the  emissaries  of  the  "  Old  Man  of  the  Mountains.'' 

This  ahnost  mythical  personage  was  the  supreme 
head  of  a  secret  Ishmaehtic  society,  which  de- 
manded absolute  obedience,  on  pain  of  death,  to 
the  leader's  decrees.  His  followers  were  called 
Assassins  or  Hashashen  (hemp-eaters),  because  a 

8 


142 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


t 


t  I 


drug  prepared  from  that  plant  was  used  during  the 
initiation  of  members,  or  to  nerve  them  to  deeds  of 
daring.  They  were  the  terror  of  East  and  West 
during  two  centuries,  for  the  "  Old  Man's "  arm 
reached  far,  and  those  who  incurred  his  displeasure 
never  escaped. 

The  wild  moimtains  of  the  Lebanon  were  the 
headquarters  of  this  mysterious  people,  who  had 
their  hiding-places  in  several  strong  fortresses  there. 
It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  sect  still  survives 
in  India,  and  a  descendant  of  the  Grand  Master  of 
the  Order,  who  yielded  such  despotic  sway  in  the 
twelfth  century,  entertained  King  Edward  when 
he  visited  India  in  1875  as  Prince  of  Wales.  Thus 
the  unchanging  East!  Delightfully  picturesque 
accounts  of  the  Old  Man  are  given  by  medieval 
writers  of  the  fourteenth  century,^  who  doubtless 
incorporate  the  popular  folklore  of  their  day. 

The  Old  Man  had,  according  to  them,  fashioned 
in  an  enchanting  mountain  valley  a  garden  so  full 
of  deUghts  that  those  who  once  entered  never 
wished  to  leave  it,  but  beheved  that  it  was  verily 
the  Paradise  of  Mohammed.  In  it  there  were  erected 
palaces  and  pavihons  all  covered  with  gold  and 
exquisite  paintings;  the  most  luscious  fruits  and 
fairest  flowers  grew  there,  and  it  was  inhabited  by 
numbers  of  "the  most  beautiful  damsels  in  the 
world,  who  could  play  on  all  manner  of  instruments, 
and  sung  most  sweetly,  and  danced  in  a  manner 
that  it  was  charming  to  behold.'* 

The  youths  selected  by  the  Old  Man  for  his 
emissaries  were  carried  into  this  garden  in  a  deep 
sleep,   and  when  they  woke  believed    themselves 

^  Marco  Polo  and  Friar  Odorio. 


^ 


i 


THE  OLD  MAN  OF  THE  MOUNTAINS     143 

in  heaven.  When  sufficiently  enamoured  of  the 
garden's  deUghts,  the  youth  selected  for  service 
was  again  put  to  sleep,  and  woke  to  find  himself 
cast  out  from  Paradise.  He  was  then  told  that  the 
price  he  must  pay  for  readmission  was  to  take  a 
certain  life — ^it  might  be  of  some  king  in  a  far  country, 
or  of  his  dearest  friend  — but,  intoxicated  with 
desire  to  return  to  the  garden,  he  never  failed  to 
fulfil  the  behest.  "  And  thus  fear  of  the  Old  One  was 
upon  all  the  kings  of  the  East/'  and  they  paid  him 
heavy  tribute. 

It  was  not  unnatural  that  many  of  the  French 
beheved  that  Richard  had  instigated  Montferrat's 
murder  to  make  his  favourite  king  —  the  Old 
Man  being  very  subtle,  he  may  have  intended 
that  this  report  should  go  abroad  and  sow  dissension 
in  the  Christian  camp ;  for  a  united  Crusading  host 
in  the  East  was  a  menace  to  his  own  power. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are  those  who  claim 
that  the  Old  Man  did  but  execute  justice  on  an 
unjust  man,  for  one  of  his  ships  had  been  driven 
into  Tyre  by  stress  of  weather  and  been  plundered 
by  the  followers  of  Montferrat,  who,  when  complaint 
was  made  to  him,  refused  restitution  and  had  the 
refugees  drowned.  A  letter  is  quoted  by  some 
chroniclers,  from  the  leader  of  the  Assassins  to  the 
Duke  of  Austria,  expressly  stating  that  Richard  had 
no  hand  in  Montferrat's  murder;  but  this  is  not 
generally  regarded  as  authentic. 

Although  his  enmity  against  Richard  had  been 
so  bitter  in  his  Ufetime,  on  his  death-bed  the  Marquis 
enjomed  his  wife  not  to  yield  up  his  castle  of  Tyre 
to  any  one  but  King  Richard,  and  desired  that  no  one 
should  be  acknowledged  as  King  of  Jerusalem  in 


H 


1  '  p 

iliii  ll 


144 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


his  place  without  Richard's  approval— a  proof  that 
he  himself  did  not  suspect  the  King  he  had  so  long 
striven  against,  and  had  in  his  last  hour  recognised 
the  generosity  of  Richard's  act  in  overlooking  his 
long  enmity  and  crowning  his  forgiveness  with  the 
Crown  of  Jerusalem. 


I  ^^ 


N 


CHAPTER  XII 

HENRY  OF  CHAMPAGNE  ELECTED  KING  OF  JERUSALEM — 
SIEGE  OF  DARUM — ILL  NEWS  FROM  ENGLAND — 
RICHARD   WITHIN   SIGHT   OF  JERUSALEM 

Immediately  after  the  death  of  Montferrat,  Henry 
of  Champagne  arrived  at  Tyre  (having  been  sent 
there  to  announce  Richard^s  acceptance  of  the 
Marquis  as  King  of  Jerusalem),  only  to  find  that 
the  proud  lord  he  had  come  prepared  to  congratulate 
had  been  snatched  away  by  death  in  the  moment 
of  his  triumph. 

It   would    have    seemed    that   this  was   King 
Guy's  opportunity  to  be  reinstated  in  his  dignity ; 
but  the  people  would  have  none  of  him.     Instead 
of  this,   accepting  Count  Henry's   appearance   at 
Tyre    as    the   Divine    leading,   they   begged    him 
earnestly  to  accept  the  Crown  of  Jerusalem  and 
marry  the  widow  of  the  deceased  Marquis,  "  upon 
whom  the  kingdom  ought  to  devolve  by  right  of 
hereditary  succession."   Such  an  arrangement  seemed 
a  happy  way  of  pleasing  all  parties,  for  Henry  of 
Champagne    was   nephew    to    both   the   Kings   of 
England  and  France,  and  would,  therefore,  have  the 
support  of  both  their  adherents.   Count  Henry  agreed 
to  both  propositions  subject  to  Richard's  approval, 
who  replied  without  hesitation  to  the  first  proposal, 

146  r      IT 


146 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


THE  SIEGE  OF  DARUM 


147 


and  more  cautiously  as  to  the  last,  *'  I  agree  to 
the  election  of  Henry  with  all  my  heart,  and  indeed 
do  urgently  desire  that  by  God's  will  he  may  reign 
over  the  Idngdom  after  we  have  got  full  possession 
of  it.  As  regards  his  marriage  with  the  Marquis' 
widow  I  offer  no  advice;  for  the  Marquis  himself 
got  her  unjustly  in  her  former  husband's  lifetime  .  .  . 
but  let  the  Count  take  the  kingdom.  I  grant  him 
the  lordship  of  Acre  city  in  everlasting  seizin,  with 
all  appertaining  thereto— Tyre,  Joppa,  and  the  whole 
land  which,  by  God's  grace,  we  are  going  to  acquire.*' 

While  Coimt  Henry  hesitated  as  to  the  marriage, 
for  fear  of  offending  Richard,  the  lady  herself  solved 
the  problem  by  coming  in  person  to  offer  him  the 
keys  of  the  city ;  upon  which,  doubtless  with  some 
chivalrous  feeling  that  forbade  him  to  depose  her 
from  her  office  as  chatelaine,  he  determined  to  wed 
her,  and  the  marriage  took  place  only  a  week  after 
the  murder  of  Montferrat,  so  that  things  might 
be  left  secure  when  Henry  hastened  to  Darum  to 
support  Richard. 

Guy  de  Lusignan  was  compensated  with  the 
kingdom  of  Cyprus,  which  island  Richard  made  over 
to  him  and  to  his  heirs,  and  thus  the  rule  of  the 
Lusignan  kings  in  that  island  remained  for  nearly 
three  centuries  a  monument  of  the  Third  Crusade. 

The  siege  of  Darum  is  another  of  the  dark  spots 
in  Richard's  career  that  his  admirers  would  fain 
pass  over.  It  reveals  the  wild-beast  side  of  his 
complex  character  which  had  the  ascendency  at 
Acre  when  the  Saracen  prisoners  were  ruthlesvsly 
slaughtered.  Darum,  which  historians  identify  with 
the  modem  village  of  Deir-el-Beleh,  about  nine  miles 
south  of  Gaza^  was  a  very  strong  fortress  with  no  less 


than  seventeen  towers.  "  Of  these,  one  was  taller 
and  stronger  than  the  others,  being  also  girt  externally 
by  a  moat."  Its  position  near  the  great  caravan 
route,  and  close  to  the  Egyptian  frontier,  made  its 
possession  of  no  small  importance  to  either  party. 

Richard  had  but  a  small  force  with  which  to 
besiege  Darum,  for  the  French  were  not  with  him, 
but  he  had  brought  his  stone  casters,  which  had 
done  so  much  execution  at  the  siege  of  Acre.  It  is 
said  that,  as  he  worked  with  his  own  hands  at  re- 
building the  walls  of  Ascalon  to  encourage  his  nobles 
to  do  likewise,  so  he  helped  to  carry  the  different 
sections  of  the  stone  casters  over  a  distance  of  nearly 
a  mile,  bit  by  bit,  from  the  ships,  and  set  them  up 
outside  the  city  walls.  When  they  were  in  place  he 
himself  worked  one  of  these  engines  of  destruction 
day  and  night,  while  the  Normans  had  charge  of  a 
second  and  the  men  of  Poitiers  of  a  third.  Darum 
was  not  strongly  garrisoned,  and  when  one  of  the 
gates  yielded  to  the  assault  panic  seized  its  de- 
fenders, who  sent  ambassadors,  offering  to  yield  up 
the  fortress  and  all  they  possessed  if  their  Uves  were 
spared.^ 

Richard,  drunk  with  lust  of  fighting,  failed 
signally  to  show  the  generosity  to  a  conquered 
foe  that  distinguished  him  on  other  occasions,  and 
bade  them  defend  themselves  as  best  they  could. 
As  soon  as  the  Saracen  ambassadors  had  returned 
within  the  city,  his  stone  caster  was  worked  more 
vigorously  than  ever,  till  one  of  the  towers,  which  had 
been  undermined,  fell  with  a  terrible  crash,  and  a 
scene  of  apparently  purposeless  bloodshed  followed, 
in  which  many  of  the  diristians'  lives  must  have 

» IdH.  Bic„  p.  237. 


»i 


148 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


1 

been  sacrificed  to  the  remorseless  extermination 
of  the  Turks.  When  the  Crusaders  mounted  their 
banners  on  the  waUs,  the  remnant  of  the  garrison, 
about  three  hundred  men,  besides  women  and 
children,  surrendered  unconditionally  —  yet  even 
Kichard  of  the  Temple,  always  anxious  to  exonerate 
his  King,  admits  that  these  unhappy  prisoners  were 
treated  with  great  cruelty,  having  their  hands  "  so 
tightly  bound  with  leathern  thongs  behind  their 
bLs'that  they  roared  with  pain''  They  were 
marched  out  to  lifelong  slavery  on  the  day  after 
the  fall  of  Darum. 

On  the  eve  of  Whitsunday  the  Duke  of  Bur- 
gundy arrived  with  his  forces,  although  he  had  held 
aloof  while  there  was  work  to  be  done.  Richard 
received  him  cordiaUy,  and  "in  the  presence  of 
many  chiefs  gave  him  this  fortress  and  all  belonging 
to  it,  as  a  first-fruits  of  the  kingdom." 

Then  thanks  were  offered  up  at  the  WhitsuB 
festival  on  the  following  day  for  the  victory  of 
the  Christians.  The  thought  of  the  lives  uselessly 
sacrificed,  and  the  prisoners  carried  into  exile,  seems 
to  have  troubled  this  strangely  inconsequent  King 
Richard  not  at  all. 

The  army  did  not  return  direct  to  Ascalon  after 
the  conquest  of  Darum,  but  made  a  detour  to  the 
East,  to  clear  the  country  of  the  enemy,  passing 
by  Ras  el  Ain  (which  has  been  identified  as  the 
Antipatris  of  the  Bible,  mentioned  in  Acts  xxiii.) 
and  Beit  Jibrin  with  its  castle  built  by  Richard's 
great  ancestor,  Fulk  of  Anjou. 

At  Furbia,  in  the  vicinity  of  Gaza,  they  were 
met  by  envoys  newly  arrived  from  England  with 
letters  from  Queen  Eleanor  and  others,  telUng  of 


H 
Pi 

o 

a; 


> 
< 


I— • 
< 


O 

O 

< 
u 

< 
O 

5 
at 


f. 


148 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


been  sacrificed  to  the  remorseless  extermination 
of  the  Turks.  When  the  Crusaders  mounted  their 
banners  on  the  walls,  the  remnant  of  the  garrison, 
about  three  hundred  men,  besides  women  and 
children,  surrendered  unconditionally  -  yet  even 
Richard  of  the  Temple,  always  anxious  to  exonerate 
his  Kjng,  admits  that  these  unhappy  prisoners  were 
treated  with  great  cruelty,  having  their  hands  "  so 
tightly  bound  with  leathern  thongs  behind  their 
backs  that  they  roared  with  pain."  They  were 
marched  out  to  lifelong  slavery  on  the  day  after 
the  fall  of  Darum. 

On  the  eve  of  Whitsunday  the  Duke  of  Bur- 
gundy arrived  with  his  forces,  although  he  had  held 
aloof  while  there  was  work  to  be  done.  Richard 
received  him  cordially,  and  "in  the  presence  of 
many  chiefs  gave  him  this  fortress  and  all  belonging 
to  it,  as  a  first-fruits  of  the  kingdom/^ 

Then  thanks  were  offered  up  at  the  Whitsun 
festival  on  the  following  day  for  the  victory  of 
the  Christians.  The  thought  of  the  lives  uselessly 
sacrificed,  and  the  prisoners  carried  into  exile,  seems 
to  have  troubled  this  strangely  inconsequent  King 
Richard  not  at  all. 

The  army  did  not  return  direct  to  Ascalon  after 
the  conquest  of  Darum,  but  made  a  detour  to  the 
East,  to  clear  the  country  of  the  enemy,  passing 
by  Ras  el  Ain  (which  has  been  identified  as  the 
Antipatris  of  the  Bible,  mentioned  in  Acts  xxiii.) 
and  Beit  Jibrin  with  its  castle  built  by  Richard's 
great  ancestor,  Fulk  of  Anjou. 

At  Furbia,  in  the  vicinity  of  Gaza,  they  were 
met  by  envoys  newly  arrived  from  England  with 
letters  from  Queen  Eleanor  and  others,  telling  of 


^ 


X 

O 
X 


X 

a 


o 

X 


c 

o 

If) 


f. 

y. 


ILL  NEWS  FROM  ENGLAND 


151 


John's  treasonable  intrigues  with  the  King  of  France, 
and  urging  Richard  to  return  home  if  he  would 
save  his  kingdom.  The  contents  of  these  letters 
were  not  at  once  made  known,  but  rumour  soon 
whispered  that  on  account  of  the  troubles  in  England 
Richard  might  have  to  leave  Palestine  without 
delay.  In  desperate  fear  that  the  Crusade  would 
be  abandoned,  the  leaders  of  all  nations  and  parties 
there  represented  called  a  hasty  meeting,  at  which 
"French,  Normans,  EngHsh,Poitevins,  and  Angevins'* 
took  an  oath  to  advance  on  Jerusalem  whether  the 
King  were  with  them  or  not.  This,  becoming  known 
to  the  army,  caused  universal  rejoicing,  and  all  that 
night  the  soldiers  gave  vent  to  their  satisfaction 
by  singing  and  dancing,  while  bonfires  blazed  and 
torches  Ut  up  the  festal  scene.  All  rejoiced  but 
the  saddened  and  perplexed  King,  who  lay  awake 
far  into  the  night,  pondering  as  to  whether  his 
immediate  duty  was  to  the  Cross  or  the  Crown.  Not 
that  night  did  he  find  an  answer,  but  though  he 
marched  next  day  towards  Hebron  on  the  road  to 
Jerusalem,  his  heart  was  far  away  in  his  northern 
realm ;  yet  he  knew  the  effect  his  departure  would 
have  on  the  army,  in  spite  of  the  brave  resolution 
they  had  taken  in  council,  and  sorrow  for  the 
multitude  who  had  patiently  borne,  and  were  still 
bearing,  all  manner  of  affictions  (at  this  time  the 
sufferings  of  the  men  from  the  stings  of  a  poisonous 
firefly,  which  caused  such  swelUng  "  that  men  who 
had  been  stung  looked  as  if  they  were  lepers,'"  was 
intense)  in  the  hope  of  reaching  Jerusalem,  forbade 
him  to  desert  them  before  the  goal  was  reached. 

A  story  is  told  of  how  Richard's  final  decision 
to  remain  in  Palestine  till  the  following  spring  was 


12  J 


152 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


the  result  of  an  eloquent  appeal  made  to  him  by  a 
certain  Poitevin  chaplain,^  who,  seeing  the  King 
sitting  alone  with  his  eyes  on  the  ground  in  an 
attitude  of  deep  dejection,  wished  to  approach,  but 
did  not  dare  to  speak  to  him,  so  stood  without  the 
tent,  weeping.    Richard  at  length,  rousing  himself, 
called    to    the    Churchman,    "  Lord    chaplain !    I 
adjure  thee  by  thy  oath  of  fealty  to  tell  me  the 
cause  why  you  are  thus  weeping/'    But  the  Church- 
man stiU  feared  to  speak  out  till  the  King    had 
promised  him  impunity.    Thus  reassured,  he  spoke 
at  length,  reminding  Richard  of  the  memorable  deeds 
that  by  God's  help  he  had  accomplished  on  the  way 
to  the  Holy  Land  as  well  as  in  his  youthful  days 
in  France.      '*  Remember,''  said  he,  "  how  God  en- 
riched thee  at  the  conquest  of  Cyprus — an  enter- 
prise which  before  thee  no  one  ever  dared  to  under- 
take ;   how  thou  didst  subdue  it  in  fifteen  days, 
and  with  God's  assistance  did  take  the  Emperor 
prisoner  . .  .  remember  how  thou  didst  reach  Acre  just 
in  time  to  receive  its  surrender ;  and  thy  recovery 
from  the  Amaldie  of  which  so  many  other  chiefs  died. 
Remember  how  God  has  intrusted  this  land  to  thy 
care ;    how  its  safety  rests  on  thee  alone  now  that 
the  King  of  France  has  gone  off  so  meanly.  .  .  . 
Remember  how,  from  the  moment  of  leaving  the 
Western  World,  thou  hast  stood  forth  as  a  conqueror 
— already  does  the  Sultan  dread  thee  .  .  .  already  does 
the  valour  of  the  Turks  fear  thy  approach.    What 
more  ?    All  men  say  commonly  that  thou  art  the 
father  of  all — the  patron  and  champion  of  Christen- 
dom, which,  if  deserted  by  you,  will  he  exposed  to 
the  plunder  of  her  enemies." 

^  Itinerarium,  v.  c.  i2. 


ILL  NEWS  FROM  ENGLAND 


153 


Richard  returned  no  answer,  and  on  the  morrow 
he  gave  orders  that  the  army  should  turn  back  to 
Ascalon,  so  that  it  was  generally  beUeved  he  had 
determined  on  immediate  departure.  Probably  he 
was  still  struggling  with  his  natural  desire  to  hasten 
to  England  to  save  the  threatening  loss  of  his  king- 
dom. He  may  well  have  argued  to  himself  that 
he  could  return  to  Palestine  as  soon  as  peace  was 
restored  at  home.  Yet  the  chaplain's  words  rang  in 
his  ears  and  would  not  be  denied,  and  in  the  end 
he  came  out  of  this  fight,  as  out  of  many  another, 
victorious,  determined  to  sacrifice  his  own  inchnation 
to  the  conmion  weal  of  the  pilgrims  and  leave  the 
issue  to  God. 

So  it  came  about,  that  on  the  ith  of  June 
the  heralds  went  through  the  host,  proclaiming  to 
the  joy  of  all  that  King  Richard  would  remain 
with  his  army  and  in  no  case  leave  for  England 
before  the  following  Easter.  All  men  were  bidden 
to  be  in  readiness  for  an  immediate  march  to 
Jerusalem,  and  preparations  were  hastened  on  by 
the  pilgrims  with  hght  hearts,  confident  this  time 
of  reaching  at  last  the  Holy  City  of  their  dreams,  and 
planting  the  banner  of  the  Cross  upon  its  sacred  walls. 

"  DeUghted  as  birds  at  the  dawn  of  day,"  and, 
like  the  birds,  singing  as  they  went,  the  pilgrims 
moved  out  of  Ascalon  in  the  magic  light  of  dawn 
which  comes  before  Eastern  sunrise.  The  camp 
followers,  declaring  they  were  well  able  to  carry 
their  own  food,  had  hung  bags  of  provisions  round 
their  necks.  Horses  and  other  beasts  of  burden  had 
been  provided  for  such  as  were  weak  and  ill,  armour 
had  once  more  been  polished  bright,  and  the  gay- 
coloured  banners  of  the  leaders,  flaunting  defiance 


•r 


154 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


at  any  and  all  who  should  oppose  their  march,  made 
up  a  picture  fuU  of  cheerfulness  and  hope. 

The  first  day  they  reached  Blanche  Garde,  the 
"white  fort""  (so  named  from  the  chalky  hill  on 
which  it  stood)  of  Richard's  ancestor,  King  Pulk, 
and  encamped  for  two  days  in  this  strong  position, 
hoping  the  terrible  heat  would  abate.  It  was  an 
excellent  point  from  which  to  observe  the  sur- 
rounding country  and  detect  any  movement  of  the 
enemy,  for  the  castle  commanded  a  view  which 
reached  almost  from  Gaza  to  Jaffa,  along  the  coast 
and  over  the  whole  Plain  of  Philistia  and  the  hills 
and  woods  to  the  East. 

At  Blanche  Garde  a  knight  and  his  servant 
were  fatally  stung  by  a  poisonous  serpent,  and  their 
fellow-pilgrims,  while  mourning  their  loss,  counted 
their  deaths  meritorious. 

Another  day's  march  took  the  army  to  Castrum 
Amaldi  or  Castle  Arnouf,  in  the  mountains  near 
Beit  Nuba  (probably  the  Khurbet  El  Burj  of  to- 
day, which  commands  the  old  road  to  Jerusalem, 
and  is  still  crowned  by  the  ruins  of  an  ancient 
fortress),  where  the  French  joined  them.  The 
Christians  were  now  within  about  fifteen  miles  of 
Jerusalem,  but  it  was  decided  to  wait  at  Beit  Nuba 
for  Count  Henry,  whom  Richard  had  sent  to  Acre 
to  collect  the  slothful  pilgrims  who  lingered  there, 
living  at  ease,  forgetful  of  their  mission.  So  long 
did  this  embassy  take  that  a  month  was  lost  waiting 
for  these  stragglers — a  sacrifice  of  precious  time 
which  seems  more  than  they  were  worth,  as  we 
may  assume  these  unwilling  soldiers  would  be  an 
element  of  discontent  in  the  camp  when  the  first 
pretext  for  dissatisfaction  occurred,  and  not  fight 


RICHARD  WITHIN  SIGHT  OF  JERUSALEM    155 


very  bravely  for  a  cause  about  which  they  were  so 
half-hearted. 

It  was  from  Beit  Nuba  that  Richard,  accompanied 
only  by  a  few  followers,  made  the  daring  raid  to 
Emmaus,  whence,  after  slaying  twenty  Turks, 
capturing  some  camels,  horses,  and  mules,  and  taking 
Saladin's  herald  prisoner,  he  pushed  on  into  the 
mountains  in  pursuit  of  the  Saracens,  who,  terror- 
stricken,  believed  his  whole  force  was  at  his  back, 
and  fled  towards  Jerusalem  with  the  news  that  the 
dreaded  "  Melek  ''  was  at  hand. 

This  was  the  only  occasion  on  which  the  King, 
who  had  risked  his  crown  to  save  Jerusalem,  came 
within  sight  of  its  mystic  walls,  but  tradition  says 
he  never  looked  upon  it.  The  pursuit  had  taken 
him  to  the  summit  of  Nebi  Samwil,  the  height  which 
commands  a  more  extensive  view  than  any  other 
in  southern  Palestine,  where,  according  to  a  French 
chronicler,^  one  of  his  knights  cried  out,  "  Sire,  sire, 
come  hither  and  I  will  show  you  Jerusalem ! "  but 
Richard,  he  relates,  overcome  with  emotion,  bent 
his  head  and  covered  his  face  with  his  shield.  "  And 
he  wept  tears  as  he  called  upon  our  Lord,  *Fair 
Lord  God,  I  pray  thee  not  to  let  me  see  Thy  Holy 
City,  if  so  be  that  I  may  not  deUver  it  out  of  the 
hands  of  Thy  enemies." " 

It  is  a  story  quite  in  keeping  with  Richard's  often 
emotional  religious  feehng,  and  tradition  can  never 
be  disregarded  by  historians,  though  Richard  of  the 
Temple  in  his  account  says  that  after  the  pursuit 
"  the  King  looked  up  and  saw  afar  off  the  city  of 
Jerusalem."  Whether  his  eyes  actually  beheld  it 
or  not  matters  Uttle ;  it  is  equally  pathetic  that  it 

1  JoinTilk. 


156 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


was  so  near  and  yet  so  far — that  his  feet  never  trod 
its  streets — that  he  had  risked  all  and  fought,  as 
has  been  said,  with  the  valour  of  a  Hector  or  an 
Achilles  for  this  brief  glimpse  of  far-away  white 
walls  gleaming  in  the  morning  sun.    Had  he  but 
known  it,  at  that  very  moment  the  gates  of  Jerusalem 
stood  open  on  all  sides — ^panic  had  seized  its  inhabit- 
ants at  the  news  brought  by  the  fugitives  of  his 
approach.    Just  one  such  desperate  deed  of  daring 
as  he  gloried  in,  and  he  might  have  taken  the  city 
with  his  handful  of  men  and  sent  word  to  his  army 
to  follow.    The  whole  course  of  history  would  in 
an  instant  have  been  changed,  and  Saladin's  power 
for  ever  broken.    It  was  the  irony  of  fate  that  the 
Lion  Heart  could  not  know  the  Holy  City  he  desired 
so  ardently  lay  within  his  grasp  for  the  taking — 
that  while  it  waited  for  him  he  turned  back,  a  broken, 
disappointed  man,  hopeless,  from  now  on,  of  accom- 
plishing the  task  he  had  set  himself  to  fulfil— though 
willing  to  die  in  the  attempt. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  RAID  ON  THE  GREAT  CARAVAN — DISSENTIONS  IN 
THE  CAMP— RETREAT  FROM  BEIT  NUBA — THE 
RELIEF    OF   JAFFA 

Richard's  great  difficulty  during  the  time  the  camp 
remained  at  Beit  Nuba  was  to  keep  open  the  line  of 
communication  with  Jaffa ;  many  were  the  raids 
made  by  the  Saracens  on  the  convoys  bringing  food 
to  the  army,  and  many  the  deeds  of  valour  per- 
formed in  the  skirmishing  that  constantly  went  on 
between  the  Turks  and  the  Christians.  In  defend- 
ing the  Crusaders'  caravan  against  one  of  these 
sorties  on  St.  Botolph's  Day,  the  17th  of  June, 
Baldwin  de  Carron — who,  with  Frederick  de  Viana 
and  Clarembald  de  Mont  Chablon,  were  guarding 
the  caravan — ^was  unhorsed  three  times,  and  per- 
formed prodigies  of  valour  against  innumerable 
foes;  being  finally  hurled  by  the  pressure  of  the 
enemy  from  his  third  horse,  he  lay  battered, 
mauled,  and  bruised  underfoot,  till  he  and  his 
friend,  Manasses  de  Insula  (who  had  gone  to  his 
rescue  and  nearly  died  with  him),  were  rescued 
by  the  Earl  of  Leicester,  not,  however,  before 
Baldwin^s  leg  "was  clean  cut  through  to  the  marrow'' 
by  the  Turks'  toothed  iron  clubs.  The  enemy 
was  driven  to  the  mountains  by  the  newcomers, 

157 


158 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


and  the  caravan,  for  which  Saladin  confidently 
waited,brought  triumphantlyinto  theChristian  camp. 

By  the  end  of  June  the  army  had  grown  im- 
patient of  the  long  delay  at  Beit  Nuba,  and  daily 
murmuring  and  discontent  grew  in  the  camp. 
Eichard,  formerly  the  impetuous,  ever  eager  for 
action,  even  agait  the  wLing  of  his  own  better 
judgment,  had  now  grown  more  cautious,  and,  having 
learnt  from  experience  the  disadvantage  the  Christians 
were  placed  at  by  their  lack  of  knowledge  of  the 
count^  and  cUmate,  in  fighting  a  native  foe  im- 
mured to  the  conditions  of  a  Syrian  summer  and 
familiar  with  every  mountain- path.  counseUed 
that  the  advice  of  the  Templars  and  Hospitallers, 
«  natives  who,  we  may  be  sure,  are  eager  to  get 
back  their  old  possessions,  and  who  know  the 
country,"  should  be  taken  in  this  matter.  "  If 
we  adopt  their  advice,"  said  he,  "  our  army  will  no 
longer  be  as  it  now  is.  torn  apart  by  such  great 
dissensions." 

Meanwhile  discontent  was  for  a  time  aUayed 
and  everything  else  forgotten,  in  the  exciting  news 
brought  m  by  the  Saracen  spies  m  King  Richard's 
pay,  that  a  great  caravan  from  Egypt  was  on  its 
way  to  Jerusalem,  which  might  be  intercepted  at  a 
point  about  forty-five  miles  distant  from  Beit  Nuba. 

Swiftly  and  secretly  Richard  made  his  prepara- 
tions to  reach  the  pomt  at  which  it  might  be  attacked 
by  night  marches ;  fortunately  for  his  plans,  there 
was  a  fuU  moon,  and  marching  in  the  comparative 
cool  of  the  night  ensured  not  alone  greater  privacy, 
but  covering  the  ground  more  quickly  than  was 
possible  during  the  heat  of  the  day. 

The  Duke  of  Burgundy  as  well  as  the  King 


s 

<: 
i/i 

"— > 

(A 
Q 
Pi 
< 

O 

H 

O 
O 

o 

Q 
O 

o 

H 

Q 
OS 

< 
u 


I 

■s. 


^ 


« 


I 


w 
oi 

X 

< 

•Si 

oa 

w 
O 

H' 

s 

ID- 


158 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


and  the  caravan,  for  which  Saladin  confidently 
waited,  brought  triumphantly  into  the  Christian  camp. 

By  the  end  of  June  the  army  had  grown  im- 
patient of  the  long  delay  at  Beit  Nuba,  and  daily 
murmuring  and  discontent  grew  in  the  camp. 
Richard,  formerly  the  impetuous,  ever  eager  for 
action,  even  against  the  warning  of  his  own  better 
judgment,  had  now  grown  more  cautious,  and,  having 
learnt  from  experience  the  disadvantage  the  Christians 
were  placed  at  by  their  lack  of  knowledge  of  the 
country  and  cKmate,  in  fighting  a  native  foe  im- 
mured to  the  conditions  of  a  Syrian  summer  and 
familiar  with  every  mountain  -  path,  counselled 
that  the  advice  of  the  Templars  and  Hospitallers, 
"  natives  who,  we  may  be  sure,  are  eager  to  get 
back  their  old  possessions,  and  who  know  the 
country,"  should  be  taken  in  this  matter.  "  If 
we  adopt  their  advice,""  said  he,  "  our  army  will  no 
longer  be  as  it  now  is,  torn  apart  by  such  great 
dissensions."" 

Meanwhile  discontent  was  for  a  time  allayed 
and  everything  else  forgotten,  in  the  exciting  news 
brought  in  by  the  Saracen  spies  in  King  Richard"s 
pay,  that  a  great  caravan  from  Egypt  was  on  its 
way  to  Jerusalem,  which  might  be  intercepted  at  a 
point  about  forty-five  miles  distant  from  Beit  Nuba. 
\  Swiftly  and  secretly  Kichard  made  his  prepara- 
tions  to  reach  the  point  at  which  it  might  be  attacked 
by  night  marches ;  fortunately  for  his  plans,  there 
was  a  full  moon,  and  marching  in  the  comparative 
cool  of  the  night  ensured  not  alone  greater  privacy, 
but  covering  the  ground  more  quickly  than  was 
possible  during  the  heat  of  the  day. 

The  Duke  of  Burgundy  as  well  as  the  King 


ir-r 


< 
If} 


X 

5 


O       <;f 

o     ^ 
o     ^ 


<^ 

X 
'J 


X 


^ 


^ 


X. 


RAID  ON  THE  GREAT  CARAVAN        161 


accompanied  the  flying  column  of  five  hundredknights 
and  one  thousand  foot  soldiers,  which  set  out  from 
Beit  Nuba  at  nightfall,  on  the  evening  of  20th  June. 
Nearly  half  the  distance  was  covered  in  that  first 
night's  march,  and  during  the  following  day  the 
column  rested,  while  servants  were  sent  to  Ascalon 
for  food  supplies.  Scouts  brought  in  such  accurate 
reports  of  the  movement  of  the  caravan,  that  at 
daybreak,  after  three  night  marches,  they  fell  in 
with  it  just  as  the  Saracens  were  taking  their  animals 
to  the  springs  to  drink,  at  a  spot  called  the  Round 
Fountain,  near  the  foot  of  the  Hebron  Hills, 

News  of  the  intended  raid  had  reached  Saladin, 
who  had  sent  in  consequence  a  picked  force  of  five 
hundred  men  to  protect  the  valuable  merchandise 
—old  chroniclers  tell  us  that  the  beasts  of  burden  were 
laden  not  alone  with  the  fabled  "  gold  of  Araby  " 
and  baser  but  still  valuable  silver,  but  with  costly 
spices,  rich  silks,  the  purple  robes  beloved  of  Eastern 
potentates,  arms  of  every  kind,  embroidered  pillows 
and  tents,  besides  the  more  useful  commodities, 
"  bladders  for  carrying  water,  cinnamon,  sugar, 
pepper,  barley,  wheat,  flour,  and  wax'*— one  can 
imagine  what  the  loss  of  all  these  stores  meant  to 
the  Turkish  army ! 

When  Richard  came  up  with  the  caravan,  he 
found  a  force  of  two  thousand  horsemen  besides  foot 
soldiers  drawn  up  on  slightly  rising  ground  to 
oppose  him,  and  very  diplomatically  divided  his 
force  into  two,  so  as  to  attack  simultaneously  on 
both  sides.  He  himself  was  first  to  charge  the 
enemy  and  ride  right  through  them  with  his  im- 
petuous ardour,  cutting  men  down  right  and  left 
as  he  rode,  followed  by  his  knights,  each  vying  with 
9 


162 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


DISSENSIONS  IN  THE  CAMP 


163 


the  other  who  could  best  follow  their  leader's  example. 
"  Then  was  the  slaughter  renewed,  the  heavens 
thundered,  the  air  was  bright  with  sparks  struck 
from  the  swords.  The  ground  reeked  with  blood, 
dismembered  corpses  were  everywhere,  lopt  off 
arms,  hands,  feet,  heads,  and  even  eyes.""  The  Earl 
of  Leicester,  coming  up  with  his  men,  helped  to 
complete  the  rout  of  the  Saracens,  and  no  less 
than  4700  camels,  besides  great  numbers  of  horses 
and  mules,  fell  into  the  Crusaders'  hands. 

In  this  expedition  Richard  showed  himself  a 
strategist  as  well  as  a  valiant  soldier,  and  the  speed 
with  which  he  covered  the  ground  contrasts  remark- 
ably with  the  long-drawn-out  miseries  of  the  march 
from  Acre  to  Jaffa,  proving  that  on  that  occasion, 
as  a  recent  historian  *  comments,  "  a  multitude  of 
inefficient  pilgrims  hanging  on  must  have  hindered 
the  able-bodied  and  efficient."' 

The  return  to  Beit  Nuba  was  accomplished  at 
leisure  on  account  of  the  vast  number  of  animals 
that  had  to  be  driven  in ;  the  sight  of  the  spoils, 
which  were  not  kept  by  those  who  had  taken  part 
in  the  expedition,  but  divided  between  the  whole 
army,  so  that  every  one  had  a  share,  gave  great 
satisfaction  to  those  who  had  remained  behind,  and 
camels  being  so  plentiful,  the  young  ones,  whose 
flesh  was  tender,  were  killed  for  food.  As  might  have 
been  expected,  however,  (for  inveterate  gLnblers 
will  turn  even  their  blessings  into  occasion  for 
fault-finding),  the  army  now  had  a  new  cause  of 
complaint  in  the  price  of  corn,  which  was  raised 
owing  to  the  great  demand  for  food  for  so  many 
animals. 

^Sir  J.  H.  Buntay. 


The  question  delayed  by  the  affair  of  the  cara- 
van had  now  to  be  decided.  Was  the  army  to 
advance  on  Jerusalem,  or  turn  back  and  lay  siege 
to  Cairo,  Beyrout,  or  Damascus?  Saladin  had 
had  time  to  strengthen  the  fortifications  while  the 
Christians  deliberated,  and,  most  fatal  of  all  to 
their  chances  of  taking  the  city,  he  had  destroyed  all 
the  cisterns  and  filled  up  or  poisoned  all  the  wells 
outside  the  walls  of  Jerusalem,  "  so  there  was  not  left 
in  all  the  neighbourhood  a  single  drop  of  drinking 
water,"  nor  was  it  possible,  the  spies  brought  word,  to 
sink  fresh  wells,  the  city  being  built  upon  solid  rook. 

This  settled  the  question  of  the  army's  movements, 
for,  though  the  disappointment  was  bitter  to  those 
poor  souls  who  had  come  so  far,  buoyed  up  with  the 
thought  of  visiting  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  all  were 
forced  to  admit  that  to  proceed  and  die  of  thirst 
before  Jerusalem  would  be  sheer  madness. 

The  opportunity  of  taking  the  city  had  been 
lost,  and  never  came  again.  The  general  depression 
and  irritation  found  vent  in  constant  bickerings 
between  the  French  and  English,  which  had  their 
climax  in  the  Duke  of  Burgundy  writing  and 
circulating  some  scurrilous  lines  about  the  King ; 
to  which  Richard,  with  his  Troubadour  gift  of  verse- 
making,  had  no  difficulty  in  replying  in  words  of 
truth  that  stung.  And  while  these  un-Christian 
dissensions  weakened  the  Christian  army,  Saladin 
was  sending  messengers  throughout  his  dominions 
to  recall  his  scattered  troops,  so  that  he  soon  had 
twenty  thousand  cavalry,  besides  a  strong  force  of 
infantry,  prepared  for  emergencies  in  case  the  peace 
negotiations  which  had  been  reopened  should  fall 
through. 


HI 


164 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


Meanwhile  a  council,  composed  of  Templars, 
Hospitallers,  French  nobles,  and  Syrian  Franks, 
decided  that  they  might  attempt  the  siege  of  Cairo, 
being  well  provided  with  animals  for  transport — a 
decision  which,  when  it  came  to  Saladin^s  ears,  was 
unwelcome  news,  and  caused  him  some  Uttle  un- 
easiness. 

In  the  early  days  of  July  the  final  retreat 
from  Beit  Nuba  began.  SaladLa  received  the  news 
with  gladness,  convinced  that  Jerusalem  had  been 
preserved  to  him  in  answer  to  his  prayers ;  for  his 
historians  relate  that  for  days  previous  he  had 
wept  and  prayed  in  the  mosque  of  Al  Aksa  and 
given  large  offerings  for  the  poor. 

At  the  same  time  as  the  army  left  Beit  Nuba, 
an  ambassador  from  Count  Henry,  (who  carried 
on  the  negotiations  in  virtue  of  his  office  as  head 
of  the  Latin  states  in  Syria),  requested  an  interview 
with  Saladin.  He  bore  the  message  that  King 
Eichard  and  Count  Henry  were  willing  to  accept 
the  terms  which  had  been  previously  suggested,  i.e. 
that  the  Christians  should  have  the  coast  and  ad- 
joining plain,  with  the  right  for  pilgrims  to  visit 
the  Holy  City  and  the  custody  of  the  Church  of  the 
Holy  Sepulchre,  while  the  Saracens  retained  the 
hill  country  and  the  city  of  Jerusalem.  But  Saladin 
made  a  further  condition  that  Ascalon  and  Turon 
should  be  dismantled,  both  having  been  rebuilt  by 
Richard  since  his  first  offer  was  made.  This  was 
the  rock  on  which  the  negotiations  not  unnaturally 
split.  Richard  consented  to  dismantle  Turon,  but 
Ascalon  was  very  dear  to  his  heart,  since  he  had 
rebuilt  its  walk  almost  at  his  own  cost  and  partly 
with  the  labour  of  his  own  hands.    It  seemed 


RETREAT  FROM  BEIT  NUBA 


165 


too  hard  to  give  this  up;  it  represented  to 
him  success  wrung  out  of  apparent  faUure  — a 
triumph  of  will  over  ahnost  insuperable  difficulties, 
which  would  be  a  lasting  monument  to  his  courage 
and  endurance.  To  Saladin  it  was  hardly  of  less 
importance,  though  for  more  practical  reasons,  for 
it  was  the  key  to  Egypt-a  strong  Frankish  garrison 
at  Ascalon  would  cut  his  line  of  commumcation 

with  Cairo. 

Neither  party  would  give  way  on  this  pomt,  and 
the  reorganised  Saracen  army  prepared  to  take  the 
offensive,  and  moved  from  Jerusalem  to  besiege 

Jaffa. 

Richard  meanwhile  had  reached  Acre,  pre- 
paratory to  leaving  for  England,  whether  peace 
was  made  or  the  army  he  was  leaving  behmd  pro- 
ceeded to  the  siege  of  Cairo.  There  news  was 
brought  him  that  after  three  days'  siege  Saladin 
had  battered  in  one  of  the  gates  of  Jaffa  and  was 
slpughtering  the  inhabitants— especiaUy  the  sick,  who 
lay  in  their  houses  unable  to  move,  and  powerless 
therefore  to  take  refuge  in  the  inner  citadel  of  the 
tower— where  the  survivors  who  could  reach  it  had 
entrenched  themselves,  hopii^  against  hope  that  help 
would  come.  That  this  remnant  was  still  aUve  was 
only  owing  to  the  bravery  and  diplomacy  of  the 
Patriarch,  who,  trading  on  the  Eastern  love  of  gam, 
had  promised  that  if  help  did  not  come  before  a 
stated  time,  each  man  should  ransom  himseU  with  ten 
besants  of  gold,  each  woman  with  five,  and  each  child 
with  three.  He  offered  himself  with  other  noblemen 
as  hostages  who  would  forfeit  their  Uves  if  these 
terms  were  not  faithfully  observed.  •  j  ^ 

Richard  was  on  the  point  of  embarkation— indeed, 


168 


MCHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


ieven  of  hia  galleys  had  already  sailed  in^advance— 
when  the  envoys,  *'  with  clothes  rent/'  anived  from 
Acre,  imploring  succour  for  its  perishing  defenders. 
They  were  shown  to  the  King's  presence,  and  there 
began  to  unfold  their  sad  tale,  when,  hardly  waiting 
to  hear  more  than  that  help  was  urgently  needed, 
he  sent  out  his  heralds  to  proclaim  a  relief  expedition. 
The  Templars  and  Hospitallers,  with  the  pick  of  the 
army,  volunteered  for  service,  but  the  French  held 
back  as  ever,  and  in  this  extremity  refused  to  aid  him. 
The  relief  forces  started  without  them,  some  going 
by  sea  and  some  by  land  to  see  which  could  reach 
Acre  most  expeditiously,  as  well  as  to  invest  it  from 
both  sides.    Richard,  who  was  of  those  who  sailed 
in  the  galleys,  hoped  to  accomplish  the  voyage  in 
less  time  than  the  rest  of  his  army  took  on  the  march, 
but  an  unkind  fate  caused  an  unfavourable  wind 
to  delay  him  at  Cayphas  (Haifa).    On  the  night 
before  the  time  fixed  for  the  redemption  of  the 
imprisoned   garrison    his   galleys   dropped    anchor 
before  Jaffa,  and  with  the  dawn  the  Mohammedan 
banners  were  seen  to  be  flying  on  the  walls,  which 
caused  Richard  to  believe  the  citadel  was  ahready  in 
possession  of  the  enemy. 

Meanwhile  the  Turks,  having  seen  the  ships, 
ni«hed  down  to  the  sea-beach  and  even  into  the 
water,  and  thousands  of  archers  began  to  discharge 
a  shower  of  arrows  at  them.  Richard  took  counsel 
with  his  trusted  leaders.  "My  fellow-comrades, 
what  are  we  to  do  ?  Shall  we  not  push  on  against 
this  cowardly  crowd  that  holds  the  shore  ?  Shall 
we  deem  our  lives  of  more  value  than  the  lives  of 
those  who  are  now  perishing  because  of  our  absence  ! 
What  think  you  ?  " 


THE  RELIEF  OF  JAFFA 


167 


But  some  felt  the  attempt  was  vain  in  case  the 
garrison  had  already  perished,  and  in  face  of  such  an 
overwhehning   force   drawn   up    to   prevent  them 

landinst 

While  Richard  scanned  the  shore  with  anxious 

eyes  a  human  figure  was  seen  to  apparently  fall 
from  the  tower  of  the  citadel,  and  a  moment  later 
was  discerned  to  be  swimming  towards  the  ships. 
It  was  one  of  the  besieged,  who  had  risked  lua 
life  to  carry  news  that  his  comrades  still  lived, 
"  hemmed  in  and  like  to  perish,"  and  who,  when 
taken  on  board,  so  prevaUed  upon  his  hearers,  that 
in  spite  of  the  fearful  odds  against  the  smaU  company 
of  rescuers  (for  those  who  traveUed  overland  never 
got  beyond  Caesarea),  Richard  resolved  to  land 
and  fight  his  way  to  the  citadel,  and  either  save 
the  survivors  or  lay  his  bones  where  those  of 
thousands  of  his  people  lay  whitening  m  the  sun,  on 
a  Syrian  battlefield. 

"Then,  even  though  it  please  God,  on  whose 
service  and  under  whose  guidance  we  have  come  to 
this  land,  that  we  should  die  here  with  our  brethren, 
let  him  perish  who  will  not  go  forward ! "  he  cned, 
and  therewith  gave  the  order  for  the  galleys  to  be  run 
ashore,  and  himself  was  the  first  man  to  sprmg  into 
the  water,  though  in  his  haste  he  had  not  Mly 
armed,  and  his  legs  and  feet  were  unprotected.  Halt 
in  the  water  he  stood,  covering  the  landmg  of  hw 
knights,  Geoffrey  du  Bois  and  Peter  des  Pr^aux,  and 
dealing  death  among  the  Turks  around  hmi,  while 
more  and  more  of  his  men  landed  and  drove  back 
the  enemy.  In  an  incredibly  short  time  they  had 
thrown  up  a  rough  barricade  to  protect  the  ships, 
and  left  a  company  of  men  inside  it  to  guard  them, 


168 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


while  the  King  and  his  immediate  foUowers  fought 
their  way  towards  the  town,  and  entered  through  a 
wmding  staff  in  the  house  of  the  Templars  which 
gave  access  on  to  the  walls.    Immediately  he  planted 
his  conquering  Lion  Banner  there,  that  those  of  the 
Christians  who  stiU  lived  might  see  it  and  take 
courage.    He  was  only  just  in  time,  for  nearly  fifty 
persons  of  those  in  the  citadel  had  surrendered  in 
the  hope  of  saving  their  lives,  and  seven  had  been 
slaughtered  in  cold  blood  who  could  not  pay  the 
ransom.    Those  who  were  left,  on  seeing  the  Christian 
banners  seized  the  arms  they  had  laid  down,  and 
wth  sudden  courage  rushed  out  to  meet  Richard 
who,  as  usual,  was  dealing  death  aU  round  hini 
m  his  triumphant  progress.    Three  thousand  Turks 
who  were  plundering  the  houses  of  the  citizens,  were 
put  to  flight  by  Richard's  splendid  gallantry  and 
dnven  ignominiously  far  without  the  walls,  though 
the  pursuers  had  only  three  horses  among  them, 
which  they  had  taken  from  the  Turks,  their  own  not 
navii^  been  landed. 

Richard  crowned  his  triumph  by  pitching  his 

tents  m  the  spot  occupied  by  Saladin  but  a  few 

hours  before,  and  from  which  for  aU  his  valour 

he  had  fled  precipitately  at  the  approach  of  the 

liion  Heart." 

No  tale  in  the  annals  of  chivahy  records  more 
amazmg  heroism  than  the  raising  of  the  siege  of 
Jaffa,  and  the  utter  rout  of  the  Saracen  host  by 
the  gaUant  Httle  band  who,  with  whole-souled 
enthusiasm,  foUowed  Richard  to  death  or  victory 


i 


168 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


while  the  King  and  his  immediate  followers  fought 
their  way  towards  the  town,  and  entered  through  a 
wmdmg  statt  in  the  house  of  the  Templars  which 
gave  access  on  to  the  walls.    Immediately  he  planted 
his  conquering  Lion  Banner  there,  that  those  of  the 
Christians  who  still  hved  might  see  it  and  take 
courage.    He  was  only  just  in  time,  for  nearly  fifty 
persons  of  those  in  the  citadel  had  surrendered  in 
the  hope  of  saving  their  lives,  and  seven  had  been 
slaughtered  m  cold  blood  who  could  not  pay  the 
ransom.    Those  who  were  left,  on  seeing  the  Christian 
banners  seized  the  arms  they  had  laid  down,  and 
with  sudden  courage  rushed  out  to  meet  Richard 
who,  as  usual,  was  dealing  death  aU  round  him 
m  his  triumphant  progress.    Three  thousand  Turks, 
who  were  plundering  the  houses  of  the  citizens,  were 
put  to  flight  by  Richard's  splendid  gallantry  and 
driven  ignominiously  far  without  the  walls,  though 
the  pursuers  had  only  three  horses  among  them, 
which  they  had  taken  from  the  Turks,  their  own  not 
havmg  been  landed. 

Richard  crowned  his  triumph  by  pitching  his 

tents  m  the  spot  occupied  by  Saladin  but  a  few 

hours   before,  and  from  which  for  aU   his   valour 

he  had  fled  precipitately  at  the  approach  of  the 

iJion  Heart." 

No  tale  in  the  annals  of  chivahy  records  more 
amazmg  heroism  than  the  raising  of  the  siege  of 
Jaffa,  and  the  utter  rout  of  the  Saracen  host  by 
the  gaUant  little  band  who,  with  whole-souled 
enthusiasm,  followed  Richard  to  death  or  victory 


J- 


CHAPTER  XIV 

NEGOTIATIONS  FOR  PEACE — SARACEN  ATTACK — SAPHA- 
DIN'S  GIFT  TO  RICHARD — SARACENS*  ADMIRATION 
FOR  RICHARD — PILGRIMS  VISIT  JERUSALEM — LAST 
DAYS  OF  SALADIN. 


Once  more  Richard  and  his  men  set  to  work  at 
wall-building  to  repair  the  fortifications  of  JafEa; 
they  toiled  with  feverish  energy  to  repair  the 
breaches,  for  fear  the  enemy,  on  learning  the  small- 
ness  of  their  numbers,  should  decide  to  attempt 
the  recapture  of  the  town.  A  small  reinforcement 
meanwhile  arrived  from  Caesarea,  but  together  they 
could  only  muster  fifty-five  men  at  arms  with 
fifteen  horses  between  them,  and  two  thousand  foot- 
men, and  the  encampment,  according  to  the  Saracen 
historian,^  consisted  of  only  about  a  dozen  tents, 
the  footmen  sleeping  in  the  open. 

It  is  reported  that  some  of  the  mamluks — ^the 
Sultan's  own  bodyguard,  who  were  distinguished 
on  the  field  by  the  flowing  yellow  garments  they 
wore  over  their  chain  armour — ^yellow  being  the 
Imperial  colour — came  to  Richard's  camp  on  an 
embassy  and  were  courteously  received.  Richard 
even  chaffed  them  about  their  defeat.  "  This 
Sultan/'  he  said,  among  other  things,  "  is  truly  a 
wonderful  man.    Islam  has  never  had  on  this  earth 

1  Boh&din. 
in 


172 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


SARACEN  ATTACK 


173 


I 


a  greater  or  more  powerful  than  he.  Now,  how  is 
it  that  my  mere  arrival  has  frightened  him  away  ? 
By  God !  I  am  not  come  here  with  my  armour 
on  and  with  the  intention  of  fighting;  see,  I  am 
wearing  only  ship  shoes  instead  of  proper  boots. 
Why,  then,  have  you  run  away  ? '' 

To  the  Sultan's  Chamberiain,  Abu  Bekr,  he  spoke 
more  seriously :  "  Salute  the  Sultan  from  me,  and 
tell  him  I  beg  him  in  Grod's  name  to  grant  me  the 
peace  I  ask  .  .  .  there  is  trouble  in  my  country 
beyond  the  sea ;  it  needs  my  presence.    For  things 
to  continue  in  their  present  condition  is   of    no 
advantage  to  either  of  us.'*    To  this  Saladin,  after 
consultation  with  his  leaders,  repUed,  "  You  began 
by  demanding  peace  on  certain  conditions  and  then 
the    negotiations   hinged    on   JafEa    and   Ascalon. 
Now  that  Jaffa  is  in  ruins,  be  content  with  all  that 
lies  between  Tyre  and  Caesarea."     This  was  not 
acceptable  to  Bichard,  and  Saladin  was  quite  willing 
to  hang  out  the  negotiations,  for  he  was  meditating 
a  night  attack  on  the  Crusaders'  camp  and  the 
possible  capture  of  his  undaunted  foe   as   he  lay 
asleep  in  his  tent,  which,  if  successful,  would  place 
him  in  a  position  to  make  his  own  terms  and  enforce 
them.    The  carrying  out  of  this  plan  was  entrusted 
to  the  mamluks  and  the  Kurds — ^the  former  as  the 
Sultan's  own  bodyguard,  trained  to  war  from  child- 
hood,— felt  deeply  the  disgrace  of  their  defeat  by 
such  an  insignificant  force,  and  the  Kurds  were 
famous  warriors  who  also  burned  to  wipe  out  the 
dishonour  to  their  arms.    Fortunately  for  Richard, 
they  quarrelled  at  the  last  moment  as  to  which 
of  them  should  creep  stealthily  on  foot  up  to  the 
oamp  to  surprise  the  King-— a  business  both  disdained 


as  contrary  to  their  usual  method  of  open  warfare. 
Both  preferred  the  task  of  keeping  watch  to  prevent 
the  news  being  carried  to  the  other  tents,  and  while 
they  contended  the  dawn  broke,  and  the  neighing 
of  their  horses  betrayed  them.  At  once  the  alarm 
was  given,  the  King  and  all  his  company  sprang 
from  their  beds,  snatching  what  armour  they  could, 
and  prepared  to  meet  the  attack.  Richard  had 
but  nine  horsemen  with  him  besides  Coimt  Henry, 
and  some  of  their  steeds  were  in  a  sorry  condition, 
but  he  made  his  dispositions  for  defence  so  skilfully 
and  rapidly  as  to  make  the  most  of  his  Uttle  force  and 
secure  communication  with  the  town  and  harbour. 

In  spite  of  the  short  time  for  preparation,  perfect 
order  prevailed.  The  knights  were  posted  nearest 
the  sea,  to  bear  the  brunt  of  the  attack,  as  the  enemy 
was  coming  up  in  force  on  that  side.  "  Their  left 
hands  held  their  shields  before  them,  their  right 
hands  grasped  a  lance  whose  head  was  fastened 
in' the  ground,  whilst  its  iron  point  was  presented 
towards  the  enemy  as  he  rushed  on  with  deadly 
vigour,"  so  that  they  formed  a  living  spiked  wall 
impassable  to  the  foe.  To  make  assurance  doubly 
sure  and  turn  the  enemy's  front,  with  wonderful 
strategy  two  bowmen  were  placed — one  to  draw 
the  bow  and  the  other  to  keep  discharging  it— 
between  each  two  spearmen,  whose  arrows 
should  discomfit  the  enemy  before  they  reached 
the  line.  Seven  companies  of  about  a  thousand 
men  each  rode  up  in  turn,  but  none  had  courage 
to  fling  themselves  on  the  brave  spearmen  who 
calmly  awaited  their  charge — ^not  one  came  near 
enoi^h  for  a  spear  point  to  touch  his  horse ;  they 
wheeled  and  retreated  like  a  wave  of  the  sea,  and 


m^<^rm 


174 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


as  the  last  retreated  the  order  was  given  to  Richard's 
men   to  pursue,   and   he   himself    rode   foremost, 
challenging  the  enemy  to  single  combat,  but  no 
man  dared  to  face  him.^    Then  the  King,  seeing  the 
Earl  of  Leicester  unhorsed,  hurried  to  his  assistance, 
slaying  innumerable  Turks  right  and  left  as  he  rode, 
and  no  sooner  was  the  Earl  of  Leicester  helped  to 
remount  than  the  King  flew  in  another  direction 
to  the  help  of  Ralph  de  Malo  Leone.    Then  a 
striking  incident  occurred  which  is  without  precedent 
in  the  history  of  warfare.    A  Saracen  ambassador 
approached  the  King  in  the  midst  of  the  battle, 
and  behind  him  were  led  two  magnificent  Arab 
chargers,  which  Saphadin,  the  brother  of  Saladin, 
begged  his  enemy  to  accept  and  use  in  token  of 
his  admiration  of  his  valour.    "  If ''  (ran  Saphadin's 
message)  "  the  King  should  issue  from  this  awful 
peril  in  safety,  he  might  bear  this  service  in  mind 
and  recompense  it  as  seemed  best.'" 

Richard  gladly  accepted  the  gift  of  his  generous 
foe  in  the  spirit  in  which  it  was  offered,  while  the 
battle  raged  furiously  all  around  as  this  interchange 
of  courtesies  went  on.    It  may  be  remarked  that 
a  French  writer  gives  a  less  pleasing  version  of  this 
story,  stating  that  Richard,  mistrusting  Saphadin's 
intentions,  made  one  of  his  men  mount  first,  on 
which  the  animal,  refusing  to  obey  the  bit,  set  off 
for  the  enemy's  camp,  and  imphes  that  this  was  the 
intention  of  the  donor;  but  the  tale  as  told  by 
Richard's  own  chaplain  is  credible,  because  more 
in  keeping  with  the  really  noble  characters  of  both 
Saphadin  and  Richard. 

While  the  battle  raged  towards  the  sea  and  the 

'  Boh&din. 


SARACENS'  ADMIRATION  FOR  RICHARD     175 

Crusaders  there  prevailed,  news  came  that  the 
Saracens  were  entering  the  town  at  the  rear. 
Richard,  with  half  a  dozen  followers,  rode  off 
like  a  whirlwind,  cleared  the  streets  as  he  went, 
his  sword  as  usual  sweeping  right  and  left,  and 
hewing  down  or  putting  to  flight  all  who  opposed  him. 
He  roused  and  cheered  the  garrison,  set  a  guard 
at  the  gates,  and  thundered  down  to  the  shore  to 
bring  back  some  faint-hearted  Italian  sailors  who 
had  fled  from  the  battle,  but  who,  encouraged  by 
his  words  and  courage,  returned  with  him.  When  he 
returned  to  the  battlefield  his  armour  and  that 
of  his  horse  were  covered  thick  with  arrows  as  a 
porcupine  with  quills.  The  Turks  had  lost  courage— 
they  felt  such  a  foe  was  invukerable,  and  though 
they  charged  once  more,  it  was  with  less  spirit — 
they  knew  themselves  beaten.  By  midday  the  battle 
was  over,  and  Richard  had  once  more  covered 
himself  with  glory  in  this,  his  last  fight  in  Palestine. 

"  Where  are  those  who  are  bringing  me  Melek 
Richard  as  my  prisoner  ?  Who  was  the  first  man  to 
seize  him  ?  Where  is  he,  and  why  is  he  not  brought 
before  me  ? ''  queried  Saladin,  after  the  battle,  of 
the  men  who  had  stolen  out  the  previous  night  to 
surprise  Richard  m  his  sleep.  Disappointed  and 
humiliated,  they  answered,  "  0  King !  this  Melek 
of  whom  you  ask  is  not  as  other  men.  Never  has 
such  a  warrior  been  seen  before — ^so  valiant  and  so 
skiKul  in  warfare.  In  every  battle  is  he  first  to 
attack  and  last  to  retreat.  Truly  we  sought  to 
capture  him,  but  in  vain ;  none  can  bear  the  brunt 
of  his  sword — ^to  meet  him  in  combat  is  death — 
he  is  more  God  than  man." 

But  though  Richard  had  come  unscathed  through 


176 


BICHARD  COEUR  DE  UON 


the  fight,  even  Mb  power  of  endurance  had  a  Emil 
when  the  exdtement  of  battle  was  past  his  worn-out 
frame  could  not  withstand  the  stench  that  arose 
from  the  dead  bodies  that  lay  rotting  on  the  battle- 
field in  the  hot  Syrian  sun.    He  sickened  and  lay 
prostrate  in  his  tent,  entirely  at  Saladin's  mercy  had< 
the  latter  chosen  to  attack  him  then,  but  Saladin's 
superstition  perhaps  attributed  the  utter  rout  of  his 
army  to  the  meanness  of  his  night  attack  on  Richard's 
little  force.    He  would  have  no  more  of  such  warfare 
and  was  content  to  make  a  truce,  the  terms  of  which 
were  negotiated  by  Saphadin,  Richard's  generous 
enemy  of  the  battlefield,  to  whom  he  sent  in  a  last 
extremity  to  procure  the  best  terms  he  could  for  a 
three  years'  peace,  hoping  still  to  return  to  the 
Holy  Land  at  the  expiration  of  that  time,  with  his 
health  restored  and  kingdom  set  in  order,  and  to 
strike  one  more  blow  for  the  Holy  Sepulchre. 

It  is  to  the  eternal  dishonour  of  the  French,  that 
when  Richard  lay  sick  almost  unto  death  after  his 
splendid  victory,  they  refused  to  come  to  his  aid. 
Nor  did  the  Hospitallers  and  the  Templars,  who 
had  always  rallied  to  his  banner,  acquit  themselves 
well  in  the  King's  extremity.  His  recovery  was 
impossible  as  long  as  he  remained  in  the  foetid  air 
of  Jafia.  He  appealed  to  Count  Henry  of  Champagne, 
whom  he  had  made  lord  of  all  the  Latin  states  in 
Syria,  together  with  the  religious  orders,  to  guard 
Aicdbn  and  Jaffa  while  h^  sought  recovery  of  his 
health  at  Acre ;  but  no  feeling  of  what  they  owed 
to  their  undaunted  leader  seems  to  have  touched 
their  hearts,  and  they  refused— Richard  had  fought 
to  win  back  their  lands,  but  they  would  do  nothing 
for  him  in  return !    They  lacked  courage  to  guard 


SARACENS'  ADMIRATION  FOR  RICHARD     177 

what  he  had  won,  and  added  to  his  sickness  of  body 
the  bitterness  of  spirit  caused  by  their  ingratitude. 
Turning  from  them  to  Saladin,  his  wounded  spirit 
must  have  found  balm  in  the  conciliatory  manner  in 
which  the  Moslem  leader  carried  on  the  negotiations, 
and  his  generous  testimony  to  his  opponent's  character 
shown  in  the  message  he  sent  in  response  to  Richard's 
request  for  a  three  years'  truce,  in  order  to  go  home 
and  collect  money  and  troops  to  carry  on  the  war. 
"  My  regard  for  King  Richard's  valour  and  noble- 
ness of  character  is  so  great,"  said  Saladin,  "  if 
I  must  lose  my  land,  I  would  rather  lose  it  to  him 
than  to  any  other  prince  I  have  ever  seen."  Ascalon 
had  to  be  given  up — on  that  Saladin  remained 
adamant — and  Richard,  deserted  by  his  own  followers 
and  prostrate  on  a  sick-bed,  had  no  choice  but  to 
jdeld ;  and  perhaps  the  saving  clause  in  the  treaty  that, 
though  now  dismantled,  it  should  after  the  three 
years  go  to  the  strongest  side — ^whoever  could 
take  and  hold  it — ^may  have  been  some  slight  solace 
to  him.  By  the  other  terms  of  the  treaty,  the 
coast  towns  from  Jaffa  to  Tyre,  including  both,  were 
to  belong  to  the  Christians,  who  should  also  have 
free  access  to  the  Holy  places — a,  clause  honourably 
observed  by  Saladin-and  Uberty  to  carry  their 
commerce  all  over  the  land. 

As  soon  as  the  treaty  was  signed,  Richard  had 
himself  carried  to  Haifa  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Carmel, 
and  remained  there  for  medical  treatment  in  the 
hope  that  the  purer  air  from  the  moimtains  would 
hasten  his  recovery.  The  Lion  Heart,  whose  very 
name  had  inspired  such  fear  in  his  enemies  that 
Saracen  mothers  quieted  their  children  with  "  Hush ! 
the  King  of  England  is  coming  I "  lay  shorn  of  hia 


178 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


il 


El  '' 


IM 


strength,  sadly  reviewing  the  events  that  had 
happened  since  that  June  day  when,  fiUed  with  such 
high  hope,  he  received  the  scrip  and  staff  of  pilgrim- 
age from  the  hand  of  the  Archbishop  at  Tours.  Of 
the  three  crowned  heads  who  took  the  Cross  and 
hastened  to  the  Holy  War,  not  one  had  reached 
Jerusalem.  The  Emperor  Frederick  of  Germany 
had  lost  his  life  in  crossing  the  river  Calycadnus  in 
CSlicia.  Philip  of  France  had  returned  ignomini- 
ouslv  to  his  own  land,  leaving  his  work  undone. 
What  had  been  won  back  torn  the  Turks  had 
been  won  by  Kichard  —  he  at  least  had  covered 
himself  with  glory  on  many  a  battlefield  —  but 
what  a  different  ending  was  this  to  that  he  had 
dreamed  of  when  the  united  armies  welcomed 
him  to  Acre  as  the  mighty  conqueror  of  Sicily  and 
Cyprus.  Twice  had  he  been  within  a  few  miles  of 
Jerusalem,  only  to  be  turned  back  by  the  irresistible 
force  of  circumstances  over  which  even  his  splendid 
bravery  had  no  control — ^and  still  the  Crescent 
waved  above  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  where  he  had  so 
fondly  hoped  to  plant  the  banner  of  the  Cross ! 

It  was  well  he  did  not  know  this  was  indeed  the 
end— that  the  accomplishment  of  his  life's  purpose 
was  to  be  delayed,  not  three  years,  but  for  ages  after 
his  gallant  exploits  should  have  become  "  a  tale 
that  is  told."  And  while  he  thus  mused  on  his 
sick-bed  the  first  pilgrims  were  going  to  Jerusalem— 
in  accordance  with  Saladin's  promise  that  they 
should  visit  unmolested  the  Holy  places  for  which 
they  had  fought  so  long. 

A  little  timorously  they  went  at  first — ^half 
mistrustful  of  T^ddah  good  faith— and  indeed  the 
first  company  of  pilgrims,  under  the  leadership  of 


11 

11 " 


178 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


strength,  sadly  reviewing  the  events  that  had 
happened  since  that  June  day  when,  filled  with  such 
high  hope,  he  received  the  scrip  and  staff  of  pilgrim- 
age  from  the  hand  of  the  Archbishop  at  Tours.  Of 
the  three  crowned  heads  who  took  the  Cross  and 
hastened  to  the  Holy  War,  not  one  had  reached 
Jerusalem.  The  Emperor  Frederick  of  Germany 
had  lost  his  Ufe  in  crossing  the  river  Calycadnus  in 
Cilicia.  PhiUp  of  France  had  returned  ignomini- 
ously  to  his  own  land,  leaving  his  work  undone. 
What  had  been  won  back  from  the  Turks  had 
been  won  by  Eichard  — he  at  least  had  covered 
himself  with  glory  on  many  a  battlefield  -  but 
what  a  different  ending  was  this  to  that  he  had 
dreamed  of  when  the  united  armies  welcomed 
him  to  Acre  as  the  mighty  conqueror  of  Sicily  and 
Cyprus.  Twice  had  he  been  within  a  few  miles  of 
Jerusalem,  only  to  be  turned  back  by  the  irresistible 
force  of  circumstances  over  which  even  his  splendid 
bravery  had  no  control — and  still  the  Crescent 
waved  above  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  where  he  had  so 
fondly  hoped  to  plant  the  banner  of  the  Cross ! 

It  was  well  he  did  not  know  this  was  indeed  the 
end — that  the  accomplishment  of  his  life's  purpose 
was  to  be  delayed,  not  three  years,  but  for  ages  after 
his  gallant  exploits  should  have  become  "a  tale 
that  is  told."  And  while  he  thus  mused  on  his 
sick-bed  the  first  pilgrims  were  going  to  Jerusalem — 
in  accordance  with  Saladin's  promise  that  they 
should  visit  unmolested  the  Holy  places  for  which 
they  had  fought  so  long. 

A  httle  timorously  they  went  at  first— half 
mistrustful  of  Turkish  good  faith— and  indeed  the 
first  company  of  pilgrims,  under  the  leadership  of 


f 


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PILGRIMS  VISIT  JERUSALEM 


181 


Chavigny,  came  near  to  meeting  disaster  on  the  way, 
but  for  that  they  alone  were  to  blame.  From 
Ramleh  they  sent  envoys  in  advance  to  Saladin 
to  announce  their  coming  and  claim  his  protection 
in  accordance  with  the  treaty,  but  the  messengers 
stopped  to  rest  in  the  heat  of  noonday,  and  slept  so 
long  that  the  main  body  of  pilgrims  passed,  beHeving 
them  to  be  ahead. 

It  was  towards  sunset  when  the  sleepers  awakened, 
and,  terrified  lest  they  should  be  overtaken  by 
the  darkness — for  they  were  unarmed — chastened 
after  the  main  body,  who  were  equally  dismayed  at 
the  turn  things  had  taken  ;  for  to  arrive  unannounced 
at  Jerusalem  meant  that  they  had  no  safe  conduct 
and  might  all  be  slaughtered  if  unable  to  prove  their 
identity. 

Once  more  the  envoys  were  sent  on  ahead  and 
succeeded  in  reaching  Saladin,  who  rebuked  them 
sharply  for  their  slothfulness,  which  had  jeopardised 
the  safety  of  the  whole  body.  While  he  spoke  with 
them  their  comrades  arrived,  not  a  little  frightened 
by  the  scowUng  faces  of  the  Turks  they  had  passed 
on  the  road,  who  only  sought  an  excuse  to  murder 
the  intruders  if  it  could  be  done  without  violating 
the  treaty.  Indeed,  they  besought  Saladin  next 
morning  to  let  them  take  vengeance  on  these  Christians 
for  the  deaths  of  their  people  who  had  perished  in 
the  war.  But  not  alone  Saladin,  but  all  his  greatest 
chiefs,  decided  that  it  would  be  derogatory  to  their 
honour  to  break  the  treaty.  "  For  thus  would  the 
word  of  the  Turks,  which  should  be  kept  with 
nations  of  every  creed,  be  reckoned  worthless — and 
rightly  so.^' 

The  pilgrims,  therefore,  were  well  treated,  and 


lO 


182  RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 

returned  thankfuUy  to  Acre  ^  report  on  the  marvek 
they  had  seen.    The  second  body,  led  by  Richard 
of  the  Temple,  passed  their  brethren  on  the  way, 
going  to  Jerusalem  as  the  others  were  returmng 
and  of  this  pUgrimage  a  particularly  full  account 
is  given  in  the  Itineranum.     We  are  told  how 
they  aU  fell  upon  their  knees  when  they  came 
within   sight   of   Jerusalem,  and   those   who   were 
mounted  hastened  forward  to  be  first  at  the  Holy 
Sepulchr^how  they  grieved  at  the  sight  of  the 
Cliistian  prisoners  in  chains,  and  gave  them  money 
out  of  the  offerings  they  had  brought,  mstead  of 
placing  rich  gifts  (which  would  ahnost  certainly 
havebeen  stolen  by  the  Turks)  on  their  Lord  s  Tomb. 
They  kissed  the  sacred  rock  of  Golgotha,  at  tne 
spot  where  a  hole  is  stiU  pointed  out  as  that  m 
which  the  Cross  was  fixed,  and  visited  the  scene  of 
the  Bast  Supper  in  the  Upper  Chamber.    They 
found  the  spot  from  which  tradition  says  the  Virgm 
Mary   ascended  into  heaven,  and   still   shown  to 
traveUers  at  Jerusalem-and  still  in  the  hands  of 
the  Turks!    They  saw  the  tomb   of  the  Vurgm; 
then    they  returned  in  a  compact   body-havmg 
learnt  by  experience  that  it  was  not  safe  for  small 
parties  of  twos  and  threes  to  go  alone-thankful 
to  have  seen  these  sacred  sites,  but  gnevmg  that 
Bome  of  them  were  desecrated  by  the  Turks  usmg 
them  as  stables.  , 

When  Hubert  Walter,  the  wise  and  renowned 
Bishop  of  Sahsbury,  made  his  pilgrimage,  Saladm 
treated  him  with  marked  distinction,  sending  an 
embassy  to  meet  him  and  offer  him  a  house  to 
lodge  in  during  his  stay  at  Jerusalem.  But  the 
Bishop  repUed  that  he  was  a  pilgrim  and  would 


PILGRIMS  VISIT  JERUSALEM 


183 


share  the  pilgrims*  quarters ;  he  was,  however, 
received  in  audience  by  Saladin,  who — after  a  long 
conversation,  in  the  course  of  which  the  great  Moslem 
leader  made  many  inquiries  about  the  character 
and  habits  of  his  great  adversary,  the  King  of 
England — ^told  Hubert  Walter  he  would  grant  him 
any  favour  he  liked  to  ask. 

The  Bishop,  anxious  to  turn  so  favourable  an 
offer  to  the  best  account,  begged  for  time  to  consider 
what  his  request  should  be,  and  the  next  day  asked 
that  two  Latin  priests  and  two  Latin  deacons  might 
be  permitted  to  celebrate  Divine  service  with  the 
Syrians  at  the  Lord's  Sepulchre,  as  also  in  the  churches 
of  Bethlehem  and  Nazareth.    This  great  concession 
was  granted,  much  to  the  Bishop's  joy,  for  he  had 
found  the  Syrian  priests  lax  in  the  performance  of 
their  duties,  and  before  leaving  Jerusalem  he  estab- 
lished priests  and  deacons  in  all  these  three  places, 
who  were  to  be  maintained  by  the  pilgrims'  offerings. 
Meanwhile  at  Acre  preparations  were  hastened 
for  the  King's  departure  to  his  own  land — there 
was  no  question  now  of  fearing  the  autumn  and 
winter  storms,  though  it  was  late  in  September,  and 
at  the  same  season  two  years  previously  Richard 
had  decided  at  Messina  to  winter  there  rather  than 
face  the  perils  of  the  sea.    Even  his  courage  shrank 
before  the  unknown,   but  now  the  sea  was   the 
known — he  had  discovered  himself  to  be  sailor  as 
well  as  soldier,  and  did  not  fear  its  perils. 

As  on  the  outward  voyage,  the  two  Queens  sailed 
before  him,  taking  with  them  the  little  Cyprian 
princess.  The  faithful  Stephen  of  Turnham  had 
them  in  his  care,  and  it  had  been  well  for  Richard 
had  he  gone  with  them,  for  they  reached  Sicily  in 


184  MCHABD  COEUR  DE  UON 

safety ;  but  it  is  natural  to  conjecture  some  coolness 
had  arisen  between  him  and  Queen  Berengaria, 
seeing  how  rarely  her  name  appears  in  any  mention 
of  Richard's  doings  in  the  two  years  he  spent  m 
Palestine.  From  Sicily,  where  Tancred  received  them 
with  aU  honour,  the  Queens  proceeded  to  Rome  and 
there  spent  the  wmter,  so  it  was  not  till  the  f oUowmg 
year  they  once  more  saw  Poitou.  ,       ,  . 

The  King  sailed  on  9th  October,  nme  days  later 
than  Joan  and  Berengaria,  amid  the  lamentations 
of  the  people,  who  cried,  "  0  Jerusalem   thou  art 
indeed  helpless  now  thou  art  bereft  of  such  a  cham- 
pion ! "    The  chroniclers  relate  Richard  remamed  aU 
Lht  on  deck  in  meditation,  that  as  he  watched 
th^  recedmg  land  of  Palestine  he  prayed  audibty, 
"  0  Holy  Land,  to  God  do  I  entrust  thee.    May  He 
of  His  mercy  only  grant  me  such  space  of  Ufe  that, 
by  His  good  will,  I  may  bring  thee  aid.      He  en- 
countered the  equinoctial  gales  prevalent  at  that 
season,  so  that  his  sMp  was  driven  out  of  its  course 
and  it  was  not  till  a  month  after  leavmg  Acre  that 
he  landed  at  Corfu-Curing  the  voyage  he  had 
once  been  within  three  days^  sail  of  Marseilles,  but 
would  not  land  there  on  account  of  the  lU-wiU  which 
he  weU  knew  the  King  of  France  still  bore  hun. 

The  fleet  was  scattered,  there  being  no  Admiral 
in  command,  and  the  fortunes  of  the  different  vessels 
in  which  the  pilgrims  sailed  were  very  varied.  Many 
died  on  the  homeward  way  of  then:  wounds  or 
disease  resulting  from  the  hardships  of  the  campaign, 
and  not  a  few  were  shipwrecked ;  for  these  navigators 
were  ignorant  of  the  seas  they  traversed  and  found 
their  way  home  as  best  they  might. 

Had  it  been  possible  for  Richard  to  remam 


LAST  DAYS  OF  SALADIN 


185 


another  half-year  in  the  East,  there  is  little  doubt 
that  he  could  have  conquered  Palestine  after  the 
death  of  Saladin,  when  dissensions  arose  among 
his  heirs  and  his  followers  were  divided.  Not 
Richard's  health  alone,  but  that  of  his  brave  foe, 
had  suffered  from  the  strain  of  the  war  which  both 
had  carried  on  with  so  much  ardour.  After  the  King 
sailed  for  his  own  land  the  Sultan's  thoughts  turned 
towards  a  pilgrimage  to  Mecca,  but  as  Richard  had 
failed  to  reach  the  Holy  City  which  Christianity 
counts  the  most  sacred  spot  on  earth,  so  Saladin 
was  not  permitted  to  set  foot  in  the  sacred  city  of 
the  Moslem  world.  His  people  urged  him  not 
to  leave  the  country  for  fear  the  Syrian  Franks 
should  break  faith  and  attack  them  in  his  absence, 
and  it  may  be  some  presentiment  that  his  days 
were  already  numbered  prevented  him  undertaking 
the  long  journey. 

A  very  touching  account  of  his  last  days  and 
death  is  given  by  the  Saracen  chronicler  Bohadin, 
who  enjoyed  his  master's  special  favour  and  friend- 
ship and  has  given  us  many  graphic  pen-pictures 
of  the  great  Moslem  leader  that  present  him  as  a 
sincerely  reUgious  man.  The  Sultan's  last  public 
appearance  was  on  the  occasion  of  the  arrival  of 
the  great  pilgrimage^  from  Mecca  in  the  February 
following  the  autumn  which  had  seen  the  three 
years'  peace  signed.  He  appears  to  have  gone 
to  meet  it,  though  physically  unfit,  and  the  same 
evening  he  was  seized  with  fever,  which  at  once 
obtained  the  mastery  over  his  already  exhausted 
and  debiUtated  frame.  It  is  related  that  during 
the  last  night  of  his  twelve  days'  illness  he  woke 
from    an    interval    of    unconsciousness    while    the 


186 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


LAST  DAYS  OF  SALADIN 


187 


III 


II 


I Ill 


aheikh  was  reciting  from  the  Koran,  "  He  is  a  God 
beside  whom  there  is  no  God;  He  knows  both  what 
is  visible  and  what  is  invisible/'  to  murmur,  "  It  is 

truth ! " 

At  dawn,  after  spending  the  night  in  prayer,  the 
sheikh  had  just  concluded  chanting  the  words, 
"  There  is  no  other  God  than  He,  in  Him  have  I 
set  my  confidence,"  when  the  sick  man  smiled  ; 
his  features  lit  up  and  he  surrendered  his  soul  to 
God."  "  The  last  of  his  conquest,"  comments^  the 
Eastern  chronicler,  "  was  the  gain  of  Paradise." 

On  his  death-bed  his  thoughts  were  of  his  people- 
as  he  had  led  them  to  victory  and  raised  the  prestige 
of  his  nation  for  valour  and  pride  of  conquest  in  the 
eyes  of  all  the  world,  so  in  his  last  hours  he  sent 
them  a  message  of  humility  and  the  perishableness 
of  all  earthly  things.  "  Take  this  cloak,"  he  said 
in  his  last  hours,  to  his  servant ;  "  show  it  to  the 
Faithful,  and  tell  them  that  the  ruler  of  the  East 
could  take  but  one  garment  with  him  into  the 

grave." 

His  advice  to  one  of  his  sons  a  few  months  before 
his  death,  though  intended  to  sketch  a  poUcy  he 
wished  them  to  continue  in  the  government  of  his 
kingdom,  unconsciously  also  reveals  the  remarkable 
personality  which  won  the  respect  of  his  enemies 
and  the  entire  devotion  of  his  subjects.  "  Fear  God, 
for  that  is  the  beginning  of  all  prosperity,  and  do 
what  God  commands,  for  He  will  be  the  cause  of 
your  success.  Abstain  from  shedding  blood  much 
or  httle,  for  blood  never  sleeps.  Keep  the  affection 
of  your  subjects  and  watch  over  their  affairs,  for 
you  are  a  steward  of  mine  and  of  God  over  them. 
Keep  the  affections  of  the  Emirs,  the  ministers,  and 


the  nobles,  for  I  have  accompUshed  what  I  have 

by  conciliation  and  tact.  ^     j    4.1, 

"  Do  not  cherish  hate  towards  any  one,  for  death 
is  sure.  Guard  your  relations  with  men,  for  God 
does  not  pardon  except  they  are  propitiated."  ^ 

Saladin  represented  the  Eastern  civilisation  of 
the  thirteenth  century  at  its  best,— a  civihsation 
difficult  to  reaUse  by  the  casual  visitor  to  the  East 
to-day,  who  connects   Islam  very  naturaUy  with 
much  that  is  paralysing  and  debasing.    Yet  Cairo 
and  Damascus  contain  monuments  that  recall  the 
day  when  their  standard  of  thought  and  Uving  was 
immeasurably  higher  than  that  of  contemporary 
Paris  or  London.    It  has  been  truly  said  that  it  was 
"  the  greatest  tragedy  which  our  historical  know- 
ledge records,  when  the  highly  cultivated  Eastern 
world  was  devastated  and  destroyed  for  ever,  a 
few  years  after  Saladin^s  triumphs,  by  an  over- 
whehning   flood    of    barbarians,"    the    Mongohan 
hordes,  who  "  knew  no  joy  beyond  building  huge 
heaps  of  the  skulls  of  the  slain  and  marching  their 
horses  over  the  ruins  of  burnt  cities." 

^  Cruaadera  in  the  East,  p.  207. 


lit 


i 


JtlAlrlJJiXi     AV 

RICHARD  IN  DALMATIA — TREACHERY  OF  THE  LORD  OP 
G5RZ — ARRi:STED    BY    THE    DUKE    OF    AUSTRIA — 

Richard's  trial  and  queen  Eleanor's  appeal 

TO  THE   pope — RICHARD   IN   GERMANY. 

Seeking  safety  on  land  from  the  perils  of  the  sea, 
yet  warned  of  equal  peril  in  crossing  Europe,  from 
the  jealous  hatred  of  his  many  powerful  enemies, 
Richard  landed  first  on  the  isle  of  Corfu,  one  month 
after  he  set  sail  from  Acre.  The  whole  of  the  German 
princes  were  miited  in  bitter  animosity  against  him ; 
because  his  policy  in  the  Holy  Land  had  been  in 
direct  opposition  to  theirs.  He  had  espoused  the  cause 
of  Guy  de  Lusignan  against  their  nominee,  Conrad 
of  Montferrat,  to  the  throne  of  Jerusalem ;  also  they 
considered  his  aUiance  with  Tancred  prejudicial 
to  their  interests.  The  Duke  of  Austria  had  his  own 
particular  private  grudge,  for  a  sUght  which  he  con- 
sidered Richard  had  put  upon  him  two  years  before  at 
the  siege  of  Acre.  The  only  possible  way  to  travel 
in  safety  through  their  territory  was  in  disguise. 

It  is  difficult  to  follow  Richard's  movements 
accurately  after  he  left  Corfu.  We  hear  of  him 
next  being  conveyed  by  two  pirate  galleys  to 
Ragusa  —  one  account  says  he  left  his  own  ship 
and  hired  the  pirate  galleys  to  escape  detection — 

188 


o 


< 

Q 
O 

o 
< 
o 

06 

o 

X 

o 

H 
< 

'A 
H 


CHAPTEK   XV 

RICHARD  IN  DALMATIA — TREACHERY  OF  THE  LORD  OF 
G5RZ — ARRESTED    BY    THE    DUKE    OF    AUSTRIA — 

Richard's  trial  and  queen  Eleanor's  appeal 

TO   the   pope — RICHARD   IN   GERMANY. 

Seeking  safety  on  land  from  the  perils  of  the  sea, 
yet  warned  of  equal  peril  in  crossing  Europe,  from 
the  jealous  hatred  of  his  many  powerful  enemies, 
Richard  landed  first  on  the  isle  of  Corfu,  one  month 
after  he  set  sail  from  Acre.  The  whole  of  the  German 
princes  were  united  in  bitter  animosity  against  him ; 
because  his  policy  in  the  Holy  Land  had  been  in 
direct  opposition  to  theirs.  He  had  espoused  the  cause 
of  Guy  de  Lusignan  against  their  nominee,  Conrad 
of  Montferrat,  to  the  throne  of  Jerusalem ;  also  they 
considered  his  alliance  with  Tancred  prejudicial 
to  their  interests.  The  Duke  of  Austria  had  his  own 
particular  private  grudge,  for  a  slight  which  he  con- 
sidered Richard  had  put  upon  him  two  years  before  at 
the  siege  of  Acre.  The  only  possible  way  to  travel 
in  safety  through  their  territory  was  in  disguise. 

It  is  difiicult  to  follow  Richard's  movements 
accurately  after  he  left  Corfu.  We  hear  of  him 
next  being  conveyed  by  two  pirate  galleys  to 
Ragusa  —  one  account  says  he  left  his  own  ship 
and  hired  the  pirate  galleys  to  escape  detection — 

18S 


O 

55 


o 


o 


o 

'/: 

X 

o 

< 

X 

H 


RICHARD  IN  DALMATIA 


191 


another  writer  asserts  that  the  pirates  attacked  him, 
but  were  defeated  in  their  attempt  to  take  him 
prisoner,  and  so  much  admired  his  bravery  that  they 
^llingly  agreed  to  his  proposal  that  he  should 
voyage  with  them.  This  adventure  would  be 
wholly  to  his  liking,  and  the  story  is,  therefore,  likely 
to  be  true.  We  know  that  he  landed  at  Ragusa, 
and  local  tradition  asserts  that  his  ship  was  driven 
by  a  storm  on  the  island  of  Lacroma,  about  half  a 
mile  from  the  shore,  opposite  that  medieval  fortress, 
and  in  thankfuhiess  for  his  escape  from  shipwreck 
he  founded  the  monastery  on  Lacroma,  and  a  church 
which  occupied  the  site  of  the  present  cathedral  of 
Ragusa,  but  was  destroyed  by  earthquake  in  the 
seventeenth  century. 

On  the  other  hand,  rehable  chroniclers  ^  assert  that 
Richard  was  driven  by  a  storm  up  to  the  head  of 
the  Adriatic  and  shipwrecked  at  Aquilda.  There 
is  no  reason  why  both  versions  should  not  be  correct. 
As  mention  is  made  of  two  pirate  vessels  after  one 
was  dashed  to  pieces  on  the  rocky  isle  of  Lacroma 
and  the  King  reached  land,  he  may  have  taken 
to  the  other  in  which  to  continue  his  voyage.  It 
is  again  asserted  that  he  changed  the  Templar's  dress 
which  he  had  worn  on  his  way  from  Jerusalem 
for  that  of  a  palmer  at  Zara,  and  from  there  set  out 
overland,  but  this  does  not  prove  that  he  was  never 
at  Aquileia,  which  Hes  a  little  to  the  north  of  Triest. 
He  may  have  doubled  back  on  his  tracks,  hoping 
thus  to  elude  pursuit,  and  either  on  foot  or  horseback 
or  by  boat  travelled  as  far  south  again  as  Zara. 

Even  if  Richard  had  not  had  special  reasons  for 
calling  at  these  various  ports,  or  been  driven  there 

^  Sir  J.  H.  Bamsay  in  The  Angevin  Empire, 


j^^jo^auum 


192 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


H! 


iij 


n 


•  i' 


1, 


by  stress  of  weather,  he  would  have  but  followed 
the  custom  of  the  time  in  so  frequently  disembarking ; 
for  the  ships  of  the  twelfth  century  made  no  pro- 
vision for  carrying  food  to  last  any  length  of  time, 
and  in  the  days  when  navigation  was  in  its  infancy 
sailors  hugged  the  shore  and  were  glad  of  any  excuse 
for  frequent  landings;  a  custom  which  made  it 
exceedingly  easy  for  them  to  be  set  upon  by  hostile 
people  and  robbed  or  murdered  for  the  sake  of  their 

cargo. 

King  PhiUp,  with  an  eye  on  the  rich  Angevin 
dominions,  had  employed  himself,  ever  since  news 
of  the  Marquis  of  Montf errat's  death  reached  Europe, 
in  diligently  circulating  the  report  that  Richard  had 
compassed  it — a  lie  so  ingeniously  devised  that  it 
had  a  semblance  of  truth,  for  the  Marquis  was  known 
to  have  been  the  enemy  of  England  and  of  the  King, 
the  latter  to  have  opposed  Montferrat's  election  as 
King  of  Jerusalem  to  within  a  few  days  of  his  death. 
This  made  it  easy  for  slander  to  assert  that  Richard  had 
permitted  the  Marquis  to  take  the  kingdom  because 
he  knew  how  very  short  his  reign  would  be.    Among 
those  readiest  to  believe  the  he — ^which  was  proved 
to  be  such  a  little  later,  before  the  diet  of  the  Empire 
— ^was  Count  Meinhard  of  Goritz  or  Gorz,  a  nephew 
of  the  murdered  Marquis  (described  by  some  writers 
as  Governor  of  Ragusa),  through  whose  territory 
the  fugitives  must  pass  to  reach  their  own  land. 
To    this   nobleman   Richard    sent   his   messengers 
without  disclosing  his  identity,  with  the  request  that 
he  would  allow  a  party  of  pilgrims  returning  from 
Jerusalem  to  pass  through  his  land. 

The  messengers  had  been  instructed  that  if  asked 
the  names  of  the  chief  men  in  the  pilgrimage  they 


TREACHERY  OF  THE  LORD  OF  GORZ     193 

should  answer  that  one  was  Baldwin  and  the  other 
a  rich  merchant  named  Hugh,  who  sent  the  lord 
from  whom  he  desired  favour  an  offering  of  a  valu- 
able ring— a  ruby  set  in  gold  which  Richard  had 
purchased  from  some  Pisan  merchants.  He  hoped 
by  this  handsome  present  to  conciUate  Meinhard,  but 
his  rash  act  created  suspicion  instead  of  allaying  it. 

The  Lord  of  Gorz,  knowing  that  Richard's  arrival 
in  those  partswas  imminent,put  two  and  two  together 
and  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  no  one  but  the 
King  would  be  capable  of  such  lavish  generosity. 
He  spake  fair  words  to  the  messengers,  having  a 
deep-laid  plan  by  which  to  waylay  Richard  under  a 
show  of  friendship  and  shift  the  blame  on  some  one 
else's  shoulders.  "  Looking  first  attentively  at  the 
ring  and  then  at  the  men  who  brought  it,  as  if  to  read 
their  secret,  he  said,  *  It  is  not  Hugh  the  merchant 
but  King  Richard  to  whom  this  ring  belongs  !  But 
although  I  have  sworn  to  seize  all  pilgrims  coming 
from  those  parts,  and  not  to  accept  any  gift  from 
them,  yet  by  reason  of  the  noble  gift  and  the  lord 
who  sends  it,  as  a  gift  of  honour  to  me  whom  he  does 
not  know,  I  will  return  him  his  gift  and  give  him 
free  leave  to  depart.'  " 

Richard,  at  once  suspecting  treachery  on  receipt 
of  this  message,  resolved  not  to  leave  openly  by  sea 
as  he  was  expected  to  do,  but  with  only  two  or  three 
followers  quitted  the  town  in  the  night,  leaving  the 
rest  of  his  party  behind  him,  with  instructions  to 
spend  money  even  more  lavishly  than  before,  that  it 
might  be  believed  he  was  still  with  them.  Ahnost 
immediately,  however,  they  were  arrested  and  the 
secret  of  Richard's  flight  leaked  out. 

Meinhard  of  Gorz  had  in  the  meantime  sent  word 


1»4 


RIC3RARD  COEUR  DE  UON 


RICHARD'S  ARREST 


195 


I* 


to  his  brother  Frederick  of  Betsau— through  whose 
landsRichard  must  pass— to  be  on  the  look  out  for  the 
royal  fugitive  and  seize  him  ;  with  the  result  that 
orders  were  given  to  watch  all  the  houses  frequented 
by  pilgrims.  But  fortune  had  not  yet  deserted  the 
King— the  knight  to  whom  the  search  was  entrusted, 
Roger  de  Argenton,  though  a  confidential  servant  of 
his  lord  and  related  to  him  by  marriage,  was  of  Norman 
birth  and  had  no  intention  of  betraying  his  liege 
lord.  He  sought  him  diUgently  in  accordance  with 
U.  tatructiol  but,  u^  o/tJdng  word  U.  tie 
master  who  had  sent  him,  besought  the  pUgrim  on 
whom  his  suspicions  feU  to  confess  to  him  his  real 
rank,  which  the  King  at  length  did.  Roger  then 
provided  him  with  a  horse  and  set  him  on  his  way, 
while  he  himself  returned  to  his  Lord  Frederick  of 
Betsau  and  reported  that  the  rumour  of  Richard's 
arrival  was  false,  the  strangers  being  Baldwin  de 
Bethun  and  his  comrades.  Chagrined  and  dis- 
appointed in  his  hope  of  such  a  profitable  prisoner, 
Frederick  of  Betsau  avenged  himself  on  the  rest  of 
the  pilgrin»  b,  throwing  fu  inU.  pri«n. 

But  Roger's  faithfulness  was  but  to  postpone 
Richard's  capture  a  Kttle  longer.  For  three  days 
he  wandered  without  food,  apparently  also  without 
a  map  or  compass,  or  he  s^lV  would  have  bent  his 
steps  in  any  oLr  direction  than  that  of  "  Viemia's 
fat^l  walls/'  which  girt  the  capital  of  his  worst 
enemy,  the  Duke  of  Austria. 

He  stm  hoped  to  hide  himself,  even  after  he  dis- 
covered  his  whereabouts,  by  lodging  in  a  humble 
dwelling  in  the  outskirts  of  the  city,  but  with  his 
usual  want  of  caution  he  sent  his  servant  daily  into 
the  town  to  market,  and  the  foolish  lad,  full  of 


importance  at  the  trust  reposed  in  him,  bursting 
doubtless  with  desire  to  hint  to  the  market  folk  that 
he  served  a  person  of  quaUty,  spent  money  so  freely 
that  people  began  to  question  who  he  was  and  whom 
he  served.  One  account  has  it  that,  as  a  bit  of 
swagger,  he  one  day  stuck  his  master's  gloves  in 
his  belt  (gloves  of  those  days  being  richly  embroidered 
and  only  worn  by  persons  of  rank),  which  led  to 
his  being  interrogated.  Thoroughly  frightened,  he 
hastened  back  to  the  King  and  besought  him  to  leave 
at  once,  but  perhaps  he  feared  to  tell  that  his  own 
actionshadjeopaidisedRichard'ssafety,andthelatter, 

believing  there  was  no  immediate  danger,  lingered 
a  few  days  longer.  The  delay  was  fatal,  for  the  next 
time  the  boy  went  to  the  town  he  was  seized  by  the 
magistrates  and  again  questioned,  this  time  with 
threats  of  torture ;  he  first  tried  to  atone  for  his 
fault  by  refusing  to  answer  his  questioners,  but  his 
heroism  gave  way  under  torture  and  the  threat 
to  cut  out  his  tongue,  and  he  confessed  everything ! 

Soldiers  were  at  once  sent  to  surround  the  King's 
retreat  and  call  upon  him  to  surrender  himself  to  the 
Duke  of  Austria's  pleasure.  To  this  Richard  loftily 
replied  that  he  would  yield  to  none  of  them  save  to 
their  lord  alone,  but  if  he  came  in  person  he  would 
deliver  him  his  sword.  This  the  Duke  did  not  dare 
to  refuse— Richard  gave  himself  into  his  custody 
and  was  sent  for  safe  keeping  to  the  Castle  of  Diirren- 
stein  on  the  Danube,  while  his  captor  communicated 
the  welcome  news  of  his  prize  to  the  Emperor,  who 
in  turn  communicated  it  to  the  King  of  France,  and 
great  rejoicing  filled  the  hearts  of  all  Richard's 

enemies. 

News  travelled  slowly  in  those  days,  and  though 


196 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  UON 


Si"-'     §^ 


great  anxiety  was  felt  as  to  the  King's  safety,  as  the 
pilgrims  from  the  Holy  Land  flocked  home— many 
of  them  having  left  there  after  the  King  did— and 
brought  no  news  of  him  other  than  that  some  had 
seen  his  ship  at  Brindisi,  it  was  not  till  a  full  month 
after  the  event  that  news  of  his  capture  reached 
England,  in  the  form  of  a  copy  of  the  Emperor's 
letter  to  the  King  of  France,  in  which  he  stated  that 
the  King  of  England  was  in  his  power.  This  was 
correct  in  the  sense  that  in  feudal  law  the  Duke  of 
Austria  was  his  hege.  The  letter,  however,  carefully 
concealed  the  place  of  Eichard's  confinement,  and 
the  Austria  of  those  days  was  a  terra  incognita  to 

Englishmen.    - 

Queen  Eleanor's  maternal  heart  was  wrung  by  the 
tidings  of  her  favourite  son's  captivity  and  uncertain 
fate  ;  the  ill  news  was  confirmed  by  a  message  from 
Queen  Berengaria  that  she  had  seen  a  belt  of  jewels, 
worn  by  Richard  on  his  person  when  she  left  him, 
for  sale  in  Rome.  This  suggested  not  imprisonment 
alone,  but  robbery  and  violence.  There  is  Uttle 
doubt  that  the  King  was  at  one  time  thrown  in  a 
dungeon  and  loaded  with  irons,  so  it  was  quite  in 
keeping  that  his  jailers  were  permitted  to  steal  his 
clothes.  Matthew  Paris  asserts  that  in  spite  of  the 
ill-usage  he  kept  up  a  brave  heart,  and  won  the 
admiration  of  his  armed  guards  by  his  cheerfuhiess. 

Eleanor  lost  not  a  moment  in  appealing  to  the 
supreme  authority  of  medieval  Europe  —  the  Pope 
—who  alone  could  command  the  Emperor  to  set 
Richard  free.  It  would  have  seemed  that  the 
dauntless  champion  of  the  Cross,  who  had  im- 
poverished his  kingdom  and  risked  his  own  life  and 
those  of  his  subjects  unhesitatingly  in  the  cause  of 


ELEANOR'S  APPEAL  TO  THE  POPE      197 

religion,  had  a  special  claim  on  Papal  protection ;  but 
Pope  Celestine  was  a  German  and,  as  such,  doubtless 
inclined  to  protect  the  German  Emperor,  and  it  needed 
many  letters  full  of  passionate  pleading  and  bitter  re- 
proaches from  the  Queen-mother  before  he  bestirred 
himself  to  threaten  the  Emperor  with  excommimica- 
tion,  for  laying  hands  on  the  sacred  person  of  a 
Crusader. 

Eleanor's  letters  reflect  the  penitence  of  her  later 
years  for  the  wrong  and  folly  of  her  youth ;  she 
appeared  to  see  in  her  son's  misfortunes  the  in- 
exorable fulfihnent  of  the  prophecy  that  the  sins 
of  the  fathers  shall  be  visited  upon  the  children. 
Though  penned  by  her  secretary,  the  letters  are 
unmistakably  the  words  of  her  own  Ups,  expressing 
the  agonised  grief  of  her  own  heart.  "  0  Mother  of 
mercies,"  she  writes,  breaking  in  the  midst  of  her 
letter  into  an  impassioned  appeal  to  the  Virgin  Mary, 
"  look  upon  a  wretched  mother !  If  thy  Son,  the 
fount  of  mercy,  avenges  the  sins  of  the  mother  on 
the  son,  let  Him  launch  His  vengeance  on  her  who 
has  sinned  :  let  Him  punish  me,  the  guilty,  and  not 
let  His  wrath  diverge  on  my  imofiending  son."  Her 
tortured  mind  and  perplexity  is  shown  in  the  follow- 
ing passage  which  represents  her  longing  to  go  in 
search  of  her  son,  yet  fearing  to  leave  her  stewardship 
of  his  kingdom. 

"  If  I  leave  my  son's  dominions,  invaded  as  they 
are  on  every  side  with  enemies,  they  will  on  my 
departure  lose  all  counsel  and  solace ;  if  I  remain  I 
shall  not  behold  my  son  whose  face  I  long  to  see. 
There  will  be  none  to  labour  for  his  redemption,  and 
what  I  fear  the  most,  he  will  be  goaded  by  an  ex- 
orbitant ransom ;  and  unused  as  his  generous  youth 


198 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


is  to  such  terrible  calamities,  he  will  not  survive 
all  he  has  to  endure/'  Little  wonder  that  Eleanor 
wrote  these  closing  words,  remembering  the  long 
and  dangerous  ilhiess  from  which  Kichard  had  barely 
recovered  when  he  left  the  Holy  Land  and  his  broken 
health  all  through  the  long  campaign. 

Those  who  love  romance  and  also  reverence 
tradition  will  hesitate  to  cast  aside  as  unauthentic 
the  charming  story  of  Richard's  discovery  by  his 
favourite  minstrel  Blondel,  who, "  wandering  through 
Europe  till  he  reached  a  castle  where  there  was 
said  to  be  a  prisoner  whose  name  no  one  could  tell — 
winning  the  favour  of  its  lord  and  thus  gaining 
admittance  through  its  walls— peering  about  it  on 
every  side  in  a  vain  attempt  to  catch  a  glimpse  of 
the  mysterious  captive,  till  at  last  a  well-known 
voice  singing  *  a  song  which  they  two  had  made 
between  them,  and  which  no  one  knew  save  they 
alone,'  fell  upon  his  deUghted  ear  through  the 
narrow  prison  window  through  which  Richard  had 
seen  and  reci^nised  the  face  of  his  friend."  ^ 

In  the  absence  of  any  better  explanation  of  the 
discovery  of  the  place  of  Richard's  confinement 
as  weU  as  for  its  beauty,  we  may  well  accept 
the  story— and,  indeed,  it  is  accepted  by  many 
foreign  historians  and  is  quite  consistent  with  the 
manners  of  the  time.  It  seems  more  probable 
that  the  devoted  minstrel,  singing  his  songs 
before  each  castle  door,  gossiping  with  the 
retainers  of  its  lord,  and  hearing  the  news  of  the 
countryside  in  the  famiUar  converse  that  would 
be  the  privilege  of  the  bard,  welcome  aUke  in  hall 
and  cottage,   should    discover  the  captive   King, 

1 K.  Noigste,  p.  322. 


faws^'^^as  i,;:.M<'  «fl-v'*Tois»K«*- 


FONTEVRAUD  ABBEY,   THE   BURIAL-PLACE  OF  THE 
PLANTAGENET   KINGS.— 5^^ /.  27 1. 


198 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


is  to  such  terrible  calamities,  lie  will  not  survive 
all  he  has  to  endure."  Little  wonder  that  Eleanor 
wrote  these  closing  words,  remembering  the  long 
and  dangerous  ilhiess  from  which  Richard  had  barely 
recovered  when  he  left  the  Holy  Land  and  his  broken 
health  all  through  the  long  campaign. 

Those  who  love  romance  and  also  reverence 
tradition  will  hesitate  to  cast  aside  as  unauthentic 
the  charming  story  of  Richard's  discovery  by  his 
favourite  minstrel  Blondel,  who, "  wandering  through 
Europe  till  he  reached  a  castle  where  there  was 
said  to  be  a  prisoner  whose  name  no  one  could  tell— 
winning  the  favour  of  its  lord  and  thus  gaining 
admittance  through  its  walls— peering  about  it  on 
every  side  in  a  vain  attempt  to  catch  a  gUmpse  of 
the  mysterious  captive,  till  at  last  a  well-known 
voice  singing  '  a  song  w^hich  they  two  had  made 
between  them,  and  which  no  one  knew  save  they 
alone/  fell  upon  his  delighted  ear  through  the 
narrow  prison  window  through  which  Richard  had 
seen  and  recognised  the  face  of  his  friend/'  ^ 

In  the  absence  of  any  better  explanation  of  the 
discovery  of  the  place  of  Richard's  confinement 
as  well  as  for  its  beauty,  we  may  well  accept 
the  story— and,  indeed,  it  is  accepted  by  many 
foreign  historians  and  is  quite  consistent  with  the 
manners  of  the  time.  It  seems  more  probable 
that  the  devoted  minstrel,  singing  his  songs 
before  each  castle  door,  gossiping  with  the 
retainers  of  its  lord,  and  hearing  the  news  of  the 
countryside  in  the  famiUar  converse  that  would 
be  the  privilege  of  the  bard,  welcome  alike  in  hall 
and   cottage,   should    discover   the   captive   King, 

»  K.  Norgate,  p.  322. 


FOMKVRAUl)   AIU^EV,   THE    HURIAL-PLACE   OF   THE 
PLANTAdENET    KINGS.— 6*^^ /.  27I. 


RICHARD  IN  GERMANY  201 

than,  that  the  two  abbots,  dispatched  as  ambassadors 
from  England  to  search  for  Kichard  and  discover 
how  his  release  could   be  obtained,   should  have 
had  the  extraordinary  good  luck  to  fall  in  with  the 
King  by  chance  on  the  road,  as  he  was  on  his  way 
from  the  custody  of  the  Duke  to  that  of  the  Emperor 
at   Speyer.    It   has   been   suggested   that   it   was 
Blondel  who  informed  them  the  way  to  go  to  meet 
the  King,  though  it  seems  that  they  had  been  sent 
from  England   expressly  to   try  and  discover  his 
whereabouts,    and    had    wandered    "all    through 
Germany"   in   search   of   him   before   they   came 
to  Bavaria,  about  the  time  that  the  Duke  of  Austria 
had  come  to  an  agreement  with  the  Emperor  to 
hand  Richard  over  to  him  and  demand  a  ransom 
of  100,000  marks  for  his  release.     This  was  to  be 
divided  equally  between  them,  and  the  Duke's  portion 
settled  on  his  son,  who  should  wed  Richard's  niece, 
Eleanor  of  Brittany. 

We  can  imagine  with  what  delight  Richard 
hailed  the  appearance  of  the  messengers  from 
England,  and  his  eagerness  for  news  of  his  reahn. 
It  was  ill  news  they  brought  of  John's  treachery ^ 
but  it  did  not  surprise  Richard— he  knew  his  brother's 
character  and  had  already  forgiven  him  so  much 
that  he  was  able  after  the  first  exclamation  of  bitter- 
ness to  take  comfort  in  the  thought  that  "  Brother 
John  was  not  the  man  to  win  land  by  force  if  any- 
body cared  to  oppose  the  least  force  to  him !  " 
The  two  abbots  seem  to  have  travelled  in  Richard's 
company  for  three  days  without  the  guards  raising 
any  opposition  to  their  intercourse  with  their 
prisoner.  It  is  not  unUkely  they  acted  on  in- 
structions from  the  Duke  or  Emperor,  who  was 
11 


I 


202  RICHARD  COEUR  DE  UON 

willing  they  should  carry  home  tidings  of  Richard 
that  wodd  hasten  the  payment  of  the  great  ransom 
they  hoped  to  receive  for  their  illustrious  captive. 

The  exact  news  brought  to  the  King  by  the  two 
abbots  was  that,  hearing  of  Richard's  capture,  Kmg 
PhiUp  had  entered  into  an  agreement  with  John, 
in  fulfihnent  of  which  the  latter  had  done  homage 
for  all  his  brother's  continental  dominions,  but  the 
seneschal  and  barons  of  Normandy  had  teiased 
to  accept  him  as  their  lord  while  Richard  hved. 
In  London  sunilar  events  had  taken  place,  John 
having  sought  to  usurp  his  brother's  realm,  but 
the  Justiciars  refused  their  homage,  so  that  tor 
a  time  a  state  of  civil  war  prevailed,  m  x^ch 
John  was  supported  by  a  fleet  sent  by  the  Kmg 
of  France,  which  was  defeated  by  the  English 
miUtia  summoned  by  Archbishop  Walter.    A  truce 
had  finaUy  been  arranged  to  await  events  and  see 
if  Richard  returned  aUve.    The  messengers,  havmg 
conferred  with  him,  hastened  back  with  the  news 
that  nothing  but  the  payment  of  the  ransom  would 
avail  to  set  the  King  at  Uberty. 

Meanwhile  Richard  was  brought  as  a  state 
prisoner  before  the  Diet  on  charges  which  looked 
very  plausible,  but  not  one  of  which  would  bear 

examination.  •  i    i.     • 

The  King  was  formaUy  charged  with  having 
supported  Tancred  in  his  usurpation  of  Sicily  in  dero- 
gation of  the  Emperor's  right,  with  having  unjustly 
deprived  Isaac  Comnenus  of  Cyprus  of  his  kingdom, 
with  having  instigated  the  murder  of  the  Marqms 
of  Montferrat,  and  finaUy  of  being  in  correspondence 
with  Saladin.  The  insult  to  the  Duke  of  Austria 
and  Bichard's  general  behaviour  to  the  Germans 


RICHARD  IN  GERMANY 


203 


in  Palestine   formed  another  count  in  the  indict- 
ment. 

To  these  charges  Eichard  repKed  in  a  speech 
so  eloquent  of  truth  that  parts  of  it  are  worth 
recording  in  full.  Pleading  as  a  criminal  at  the 
bar,  and  having  prepared  his  own  defence,  he  said, 
with  simple  dignity — 

"  I  am  born  in  a  rank  which  recognises  no  superior 
but  God,  to  whom  alone  I  am  responsible  for  my 
actions ;   but  they  are  so  pure  and  honourable  that 
I  voluntarily  and  cheerfully  render  a  full  account 
of  them  to  the  whole  world.    The  treaties  I  have 
concluded  with  the  King  of  Sicily  contain  no  in- 
fraction of  the  law  of  nations.    I  do  not  understand 
how  I  can  be  reproached  for  the  conquest  of  Cyprus. 
I  avenged  my  own  injuries  and  those  of  the  human 
race    in    punishing    a    tyrant    and    dethroning    a 
usurper  ;  and  by  bestowing  my  conquest  on  a  prince 
worthy  of  the  throne,  I  have  shown  that  I  was  not 
prompted   by   avarice   or  ambition;    so  much  so, 
that  the  Emperor  of  Constantinople,  who  alone  has 
any  right  to  complain,  has  been  wholly  silent  on  the 
subject.    In  reference  to  the  Duke  of  Austria,  he 
ought  to  have  avenged  the  insult  on  the  spot,  or 
long  since  to  have  forgotten  it ;  moreover,  my  deten- 
tion and  captivity  by  his  orders  should  have  satisfied 
his  revenge.    I  need  not  justify  myself  against  the 
crime  of  having  caused  the  assassination  of  the 
Marquis  of  Montferrat ;  he  himseK  exonerated  me 
from  that  foul  charge,  and,  had  I  my  freedom,  who 
would  dare  to  accuse  me  of  deliberate  murder  ?    My 
pretended  correspondence  with  Saladin  is  equally 
unfounded  ;  my  battles  and  victories  alone  disprove 
the  false  assertion,  and  if  I  did  not  drive  the  Saracen 


204  RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 

prince  from  Jerusalem,  bkme  not  me,  but  blame 
the  King  of  France,  the  Duke  of  Burgundy  the 
Dnke  of  Austria  himseU,  aU  of  whom  deserted  the 
cause  and  left    me    ahnost  single-handed  to  war 

ogainst  the  infidel.  , 

-  It  is  said  I  was  corrupted  by  presents  from  the 
Sultan,  and  that  I  joined  the  Crusade  from  the  love 
of  money ;  but  did  I  not  give  away  aU  the  wealth 
I  seized  on  capturing  the  Bagdad  caravan,  and 
what  have  I  reserved  out  of  aU  my  conquests  ? 
Nothing  but  the  ring  I  wear  on  my  finger.  Do  you 
then  render  justice  to  me?  Have  compassion  on 
a  monarch  who  has  experienced  such  unworthy 
treatment,  and  put  more  faith  in  my  actions  than  m 
the  calumnies  of  my  deadly  foes. 

This  speech  made  such  an  unpression  upon  the 
Emperor  that  he  came  forward  and  embraced 
Hichard  giving  him  "  the  kiss  of  peace. 

I^ii^on  justice  the  King  ought  to  have  then 
been  set  at  Hberty  without  a  ransom,  ajidjeceived 
an  indemnity  for  the  indignities  to  which  he  had 
been  unjustly  subjected  by  his  mipnsonment  but 
no  such  idea  crossed  the  Emperor  s  mmd.  He 
argued  that  might  was  right,  and  was  determmed  to 
bleed  Richard  for  all  he  was  worth.  ^ 

Hubert  Walter,  who  had  heard  on  landmg  in 
Sicilv  on  his  way  home  from  the  Crusade,  of  the 
King's  fate,  at  once  made  his  way  to  him,  and  was 
sent  home  with  letters  from  Richard  to  Queen 
Eleanor,  to  the  Justiciars,  and  to  the  Canterbury 
monks,  saying  that  the  Emperor  was  now  treat^g 
him  with  honour,  and  the  good  understanding  that 
had  been  estabUshed  between  them  was  of  g^^^^^ 
value ;  but  before  he  could  return  to  England  a 


RICHARD  IN  GERMANY 


205 


ransom  of  a  hundred  thousand  marks  must  be 
raised.  Richard  also  expressed  in  these  letters  his 
desire  that  the  bearer  should  be  raised  to  the  see 
of  Canterbury  for  his  services. 

The  Emperor  meanwhile  was  playing  a  double 
game  in  receiving  embassies  both  from  Philip  of 
France  and  from  John,  who  were  ready  to  pay  him 
large  sums  to  keep  Richard  in  captivity  till  they 
had  established  themselves  firmly  in  his  dominions  : 
doubtless  he  kept  in  treaty  with  them  to  fall  back 
on  their  offers  should  Richard's  ransom  not  be  forth- 
coming, for  he  was  both  needy  and  avaricious, 
and  greed  of  gold  was  the  motive  that  is  apparent 
in  his  actions  throughout. 

To  make  a  larger  profit  for  himself  he  altered 

more  than  once  the  terms  of  his  contract  with  Duke 

Leopold — by  which  he  had  come  into  possession  of 

Richard's  person— first  allotting  70,000  marks  for 

his  own  share,  and  leaving  only  30,000  for  the  Duke, 

instead  of  dividing  the  ransom  equally  as  agreed  at 

the  treaty  of  Wurtzburg,  and  then,  as  the  Duke 

naturally  objected,  devismg  a  plan  by  which  he 

might  keep  the  same  amount  and  still  satisfy  his 

partner.    This  was  to  demand  besides  the  100,000 

marks  ransom    from  England    another  50,000   as 

"commutation  of  military  service  against  Sicily.'* 

He  finally  altered  the  amounts  to  130,000  for  himself 

and  20,000  for  the  Duke,  who  had  captured  the  King 

and  delivered  him  into  his  power. 

Meanwhile  the  collection  of  the  ransom  went 
on  in  England.  According  to  feudal  law,  the  tax 
should  have  fallen  only  upon  the  knights,  but 
nothing  like  the  sum  required  could  be  raised  in  this 
manner,  so  a  tax  of  "  a  fourth  part  of  the  revenue 


206  RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 

and  of  the  movable  goods  of  every  man,  whether 
layman  or  clerk/'  ^  was  imposed,  and,  strange  to  say, 
cheerfully  paid.    Still,  the  amount  was  not  enough, 
for  those  whose  duty  it  was  to  collect  the  taxes 
helped  themselves  liberally  to  what  passed  through 
their  hands.    The  Church  was  then  called  upon  for 
extra  contributions  towards  the  ransom  of  a  King 
who  owed  his  captivity  to  his  zeal  for  the  Holy 
War.      The    Cistercians    and    Gilbertines,    whose 
wealth  was  in  their  flocks,  were  called  upon  for 
a  fourth  part  of  the  year's  wool,  and  even  the  gold 
and  silver  vessels  of  the  churches  were  demanded 
both    in   England   and    in   Richard's    continental 
dominions.    It  is  said  that  "  prelate  crosses,  silver 
hinges  from  the  coffins  of  saints,  silver  in  all  forms  was 
heaped  up  in  London,  and  yet  there  was  not  enough. 
Four  months  after  Richard  had  cleaxed  himself  of 
the  charges  against  him,  at  the  diet  of  the  Empire, 
so  much  money  had  been  collected  that  it  was  evi- 
dent the  ransom  would  eventually  be  paid,  and  PhiUp 
of  France,  in  dismay  at  the  failure  of  his  plots,  sent 
a  little  prematurely  the  historic  message  to  John, 
"  Beware  !    The  devil  is  loose  again  I  " 

It  was  not,  however  till  the  following  January 
that  the  King  was  actually  set  at  liberty,  and  up  to 
the  last  moment  the  Emperor  seems  to  have  been 
considering  whether  he  should  best  sjpve  his  own 
ends  by  releasmg  Richard  on  payment  |l  the  ransom, 
or  by  selling  him  to  Philip  and  John. 

Richard,  always  extraordinarily  forgiving  to  the 
brother  who  never  ceased  plotting  against  him,  had 
tried  the  effect  of  fair  measures  by  making  over- 
tures of  reconciliation  to  both  John  and  PhiUp  as 

^  Angevin  Kings,  p.  326. 


RICHARD  IN  GERMANY 


207 


soon  as  there  seemed  to  be  a  reasonable  prospect  of  his 
being  set  at  liberty  and  offering  both  such  favourable 
terms — "  John  to  retain  all  the  possessions  that  had 
been  given  him  on  both  sides  the  Channel,  and 
Philip  his  recent  conquests  in  Normandy — that  the 
Norman  barons  who  did  not  want  French  rule,  refused 
to  sign  them.  It  was  not  till  February  that 
Richard  was  actually  set  free.  In  December  the 
Emperor  had  agreed  to  give  him  liberty  on  receipt 
of  the  greater  part  of  the  ransom,  with  hostages  for 
the  rest.  The  money  was  sent  out  of  England  at 
Richard's  risk  to  the  German  frontier,  where  the 
Emperor  took  it  over  and  fixed  the  17th  of  the 
following  January  for  the  Eong's  formal  Uberation, 
at  the  same  time  arranging  that  Richard's  coronation 
as  King  of  Burgundy  and  Aries  should  take  place 
a  week  later.  These  titles  the  Emperor  insisted  on 
his  accepting,  though  it  was  of  course  "  but  a 
formal  grant  of  territories  over  which  the  Emperor 
had  no  control,  as  it  would  involve,  however,  the 
rendering  of  homage  on  Richard's  part,  which  was 
flattering  to  the  Emperor's  vanity;  possibly  it 
may  have  been  also  an  excuse  for  detaining  him 
after  he  had  been  set  free."  ^  It  is  suspicious  that 
when  the  day  fixed  for  the  diet  came  round  the 
Emperor  adjourned  it  to  the  2nd  of  February,  and 
altered  the  place  at  which  the  Bang  should  be 
released  to  Mainz,  nearer  the  French  territory, 
which  some  writers  have  hinted  might  have  been 
intended  to  give  PhiUp  a  chance  to  recapture  the 
released  captive. 

Queen  Eleanor,  the  Archbishop   of  Rouen,  the 
Chancellor  Longchamp,  and  the  Bishop  of  Bath, 

*  The  Angevin  Empire,  p.  333. 


208 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


suspecting  treachery,  had  hastened  to  Mainz  to 
meet  and  support  Richard.  Their  suspicions  were 
but  too  well  founded,  for,  instead  of  proceeding  at 
once  with  the  business  they  had  met  to  carry 
through,  the  Emperor  first  began  to  make  excuses 
and  finally  admitted  that  he  was  ready  to  close 
-with  the  o£Eer  of  the  highest  bidder.  He  put  letters 
from  Philip  and  John  into  Richard's  hands,  offering 
150,000  marks  if  he  were  kept  in  prison  for  another 
year,  or  delivered  into  their  hands,  and  asked  how 
much  more  Richard  would  pay  him  to  set  him  at 
liberty  instead. 

Fortimately  for  the  King,  several  German  noble- 
men of  high  rank  had  bound  themselves  as  sureties 
for  the  Emperor's  good  faith, and  to  them  he  appealed. 
Whereupon  they  jointly  went  to  the  Emperor, "  stood 
round  him  in  a  body,  reproved  him  boldly  for  his 
breach  of  faith,  and  did  not  leave  the  place  until 
they  had  compelled  him  to  break  off  the  nefarious 
conspiracy  and  release  his  royal  prisoner,"  who,  how- 
ever, had  to  leave  behind  him  hostages  of  rank  to 
guarantee  the  balance  of  the  ransom.  Thus  hardly 
did  the  King  r^ain  his  liberty  after  thirteen  months' 
iniquitous  imprisonment  by  men  who  had  trumped 
up  charges  against  him  merely  to  satisfy  thefar  own 
malice  and  greed  of  gold.  little  wonder  that  his 
imprisonment,  together  with  John's  treachery,  had  so 
embittered  him  that  a  shadow  from  that  time  seemed 
to  rest  upon  his  soul,  and  he  was  never  again  the 
gay»  light-hearted  Troubadour  prince  of  romance. 


^■'Q-XJ 


\ 


EFFIGY  OF^RICHARD   I.   AT   FONTEVRAUD  ABBEY.— 5^^  /.  276. 


208 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


suspecting  treachery,  had  hastened  to  Mainz  to 
meet  and  support  Richard.  Their  suspicions  were 
but  too  well  founded,  for,  instead  of  proceeding  at 
once  with  the  business  they  had  met  to  carry 
through,  the  Emperor  first  began  to  make  excuses 
and  finally  admitted  that  he  was  ready  to  close 
-with  the  offer  of  the  highest  bidder.  He  put  letters 
from  Phihp  and  John  into  Richard's  hands,  offering 
150,000  marks  if  he  were  kept  in  prison  for  another 
year,  or  deUvered  into  their  hands,  and  asked  how 
much  more  Richard  would  pay  him  to  set  him  at 
liberty  instead. 

Fortunately  for  the  King,  several  German  noble- 
men of  high  rank  had  bound  themselves  as  sureties 
for  the  Emperor's  good  faith,  and  to  them  he  appealed. 
Whereupon  they  jointly  went  to  the  Emperor,  "  stood 
round  him  in  a  body,  reproved  him  boldly  for  his 
breach  of  faith,  and  did  not  leave  the  place  until 
they  had  compelled  him  to  break  off  the  nefarious 
conspiracy  and  release  his  royal  prisoner,"  who,  how- 
ever, had  to  leave  behind  him  hostages  of  rank  to 
guarantee  the  balance  of  the  ransom.  Thus  hardly 
did  the  Ejng  regain  his  hberty  after  thirteen  months' 
iniquitous  imprisonment  by  men  who  had  trumped 
up  charges  against  him  merely  to  satisfy  their  own 
mahce  and  greed  of  gold.  Little  wonder  that  his 
imprisonment,  together  with  John's  treachery,  had  so 
embittered  him  that  a  shadow  from  that  time  seemed 
to  rest  upon  his  soul,  and  he  was  never  again  the 
gay,  light-hearted  Troubadour  prince  of  romance. 


•  -'/.?^^ 


^ 


m 


is 


rrrir.v  rvvfkir  h\ki»  i.  at  »v.vTF:vRAni  xww.x.Sft  /^  27€, 


{ 


H- 


CHAPTER  XVI 


RICHARD  RETURNS  TO  ENGLAND — DEMONSTRATIONS  IN 
LONDON — RICHARD  GOES  TO  FRANCE — WINS  BACK 
HIS  SOUTHERN  DOMINIONS — PHILIP  DEFEATED — 
REVIVAL  OF  MILITARY  TOURNAMENTS — DEATH  OP 
THE   DUKE   OF   AUSTRIA. 

We  may  well  believe  that  Richard  did  not  feel 
himseK  safe  till  he  was  outside  the  treacherous 
Emperor's  dominions — ^nevertheless,  undue  haste 
would  have  been  undignified,  so  he  stopped  at 
Cologne,  where  the  Archbishop  received  him  with 
great  dignity  and  a  special  Mass  was  celebrated 
in  his  honour,  at  which  the  words  were  chanted, 
"  Now  I  know  that  the  Lord  hath  sent  His  angel 
and  dehvered  me  from  the  hand  of  Herod,''  in 
allusion  to  the  King's  deHverance.  In  memory 
of  his  visit  Richard  gave  the  merchants  of  Cologne 
a  charter,  releasing  them  from  annual  dues  to  the 
port  of  London. 

At  Antwerp  he  found  English  vessels  waiting  to 
take  him  and  his  suite  to  Sandwich,  but  over  a  week 
elapsed  between  his  saihng  and  his  arrival  in  England, 
for  he  travelled  by  day  only ;  his  galley  threaded 
its  way  very  slowly  among  the  sandbanks  of  the 
Scheldt,  while  on  reaching  the  port  of  Schouwen 
or  Swine  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  a  storm  was 
raging   that   caused    further   delay.    It   had   not 


211 


212 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


entirely  abated  when  Eichard  sailed,  but  a  rumour 
had  reached  him  that  the  Emperor,  like  Pharaoh  of 
old,  had  repented  of  letting  him  escape,  and  was  giving 
chase ;  so  he  took  the  risk  of  the  elements  rather  than 
of  that  of  a  return  to  captivity,  and  none  too  soon, 
for,  it  is  said, the  Emperor's  soldiers  reached  Schouwen 
a  few  hours  after  the  English  fleet  sailed  for  home. 

Four  years  had  passed  since  Eichard  set  foot 
in  England.  He  knew  that,  though  his  mother  and 
the  Justiciars  had  loyally  held  to  him,  the  country 
was  practically  in  a  state  of  civil  war.  John,  having 
failed  in  his  plot  to  keep  his  brother  a  captive, 
and  expecting  vengeance,  had  fled  to  France,  but 
sent  a  message  from  thence  that  his  castles  should 
be  defended  against  the  King.  A  few  days  before 
Eichard's  arrival  the  messengers  had  been  seized, 
and,  John's  treason  being  proven,  a  council  called 
together  by  Hubert  Walter  had  declared  his  lands 
forfeit ;  troops  in  the  meantime  were  sent  out 
to  enforce  the  order.  Only  two  castles  still  held 
out  when  the  King  landed,  one  of  which  was  Notting- 
ham. The  commander  of  St.  Michael's  Mount  in 
Cornwall — one  of  John's  ill-gotten  gains,  for  he  had 
permitted  one  of  his  followers  to  drive  out  the 
monks  and  take  it  for  himself — was  so  terrified  on 
hearing  of  the  King's  landing  that  he  died  of  fright. 

Eichard's  first  act  was  to  give  thanks  for  his 
deliverance  at  the  shrine  of  St.  Thomas  of  Canterbury. 
On  his  meeting  with  his  faithful  friend  the  Arch- 
bishop, we  are  told  that  the  King  leaped  from 
his  horse  and  knelt  upon  the  ground — that  Hubert 
did  the  same — and  then  they  fell,  weeping  tears  of 
joy,  into  each  other's  arms. 

The  citizens  of  London  received  their  long-lost 


DEMONSTRATIONS  IN  LONDON 


213 


King  with  such  show  of  wealth,  in  the  display  of 
decorations  and  feasting  and  such  demonstrations 
of  love  and  loyalty,  that  the  German  nobles,  who  had 
been  sent  to  see  Eichard  safely  home  and  expected 
to  find  a  bankrupt  country  seething  with  discontent, 
were  astonished  at  his  evident  popularity,  and  one  of 
them  jestingly  told  him  that  had  they  guessed  at 
the  real  state  of  affairs  in  his  kingdom  they  would 
not  have  let  him  go  so  hghtly. 

From  London  Eichard,  ever  observant  of  religious 
duties,  proceeded  to  another  famous  shrine — ^that  of 
St.  Albans — ^where  he  placed  before  the  altar  the 
banner  of  Cyprus ;  next  he  marched  against 
Nottingham  in  person,  and,  as  in  Palestine,  fought 
himself  as  eagerly  as  a  young  knight  desiring  to  win 
his  spurs.  The  garrison  at  Nottingham  must  have 
known  resistance  was  vain ;  yet  they  probably 
feared  Eichard's  vengeance  as  much  as  a  siege,  for 
they  held  out  for  three  days ;  on  the  fourth,  after 
engines  of  destruction  had  been  raised  outside  the 
walls  and  gallows  erected  on  which  some  rebels  were 
hung  as  an  example,  the  Constable  of  the  Castle 
yielded  himself  and  his  men  to  the  King's  mercy. 

With  the  fall  of  Nottingham  Eichard  was  once 
more  in  full  possession  of  his  island  realm.  On  the 
17th  of  April  he  went  through  the  ceremony  at  Win- 
chester which  has  been  often  referred  to  as  a  second 
coronation,  but  seems  to  have  been  rather  a  great 
thanksgiving  service  at  which  the  King,  wearing 
his  robe  and  crown,  was  led  in  solemn  procession  to 
the  Minster,  with  the  swords  of  state — as  at  an  actual 
coronation — carried  before  him.  As  he  stood  in  his 
royal  robes,  sceptre  in  hand  and  crown  on  head, 
amid  the  throng  of    bishops  and^  barons  in  the 


f 


212 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


DEMONSTRATIONS  IN  LONDON 


213 


entirely  abated  when  Richard  sailed,  but  a  rumour 
had  reached  him  that  the  Emperor,  like  Pharaoh  of 
old,  had  repented  of  letting  him  escape,  and  was  giving 
chase ;  so  he  took  the  risk  of  the  elements  rather  than 
of  that  of  a  return  to  captivity,  and  none  too  soon, 
for, it  is  said, the  Emperor's  soldiers  reached  Schouwen 
a  few  hours  after  the  English  fleet  sailed  for  home. 

Four  years  had  passed  since  Richard  set  foot 
in  England.  He  knew  that,  though  his  mother  and 
the  Justiciars  had  loyally  held  to  him,  the  country 
was  practically  in  a  state  of  civil  war.  John,  having 
failed  in  his  plot  to  keep  his  brother  a  captive, 
and  expecting  vengeance,  had  fled  to  France,  but 
sent  a  message  from  thence  that  his  castles  should 
be  defended  against  the  King.  A  few  days  before 
Richard's  arrival  the  messengers  had  been  seized, 
and,  John's  treason  being  proven,  a  council  called 
together  by  Hubert  Walter  had  declared  his  lands 
forfeit ;  troops  in  the  meantime  were  sent  out 
to  enforce  the  order.  Only  two  castles  still  held 
out  when  the  King  landed,  one  of  which  was  Notting- 
ham. The  commander  of  St.  Michael's  Mount  in 
Cornwall — one  of  John's  ill-gotten  gains,  for  he  had 
permitted  one  of  his  followers  to  drive  out  the 
monks  and  take  it  for  himself — was  so  terrified  on 
hearing  of  the  King's  landing  that  he  died  of  fright. 

Richard's  first  act  was  to  give  thanks  for  his 
deliverance  at  the  shrine  of  St.  Thomas  of  Canterbury. 
On  his  meeting  with  his  faithful  friend  the  Arch- 
bishop, we  are  told  that  the  King  leaped  from 
his  horse  and  knelt  upon  the  ground — that  Hubert 
did  the  same— and  then  they  fell,  weeping  tears  of 
joy,  into  each  other's  arms. 

The  citizens  of  London  received  their  long-lost 


King  with  such  show  of  wealth,  in  the  display  of 
decorations  and  feasting  and  such  demonstrations 
of  love  and  loyalty,  that  the  German  nobles,  who  had 
been  sent  to  see  Richard  safely  home  and  expected 
to  find  a  bankrupt  country  seething  with  discontent, 
were  astonished  at  his  evident  popularity,  and  one  of 
them  jestingly  told  him  that  had  they  guessed  at 
the  real  state  of  a£Eairs  in  his  kingdom  they  would 
not  have  let  him  go  so  lightly. 

From  London  Richard,  ever  observant  of  rehgious 
duties,  proceeded  to  another  famous  shrine — ^that  of 
St.  Albans — ^where  he  placed  before  the  altar  the 
banner  of  Cyprus;  next  he  marched  against 
Nottingham  in  person,  and,  as  in  Palestine,  fought 
himself  as  eagerly  as  a  young  knight  desiring  to  win 
his  spurs.  The  garrison  at  Nottingham  must  have 
known  resistance  was  vain ;  yet  they  probably 
feared  Richard's  vengeance  as  much  as  a  siege,  for 
they  held  out  for  three  days ;  on  the  fourth,  after 
engines  of  destruction  had  been  raised  outside  the 
walls  and  gallows  erected  on  which  some  rebels  were 
hung  as  an  example,  the  Constable  of  the  Castle 
yielded  himself  and  his  men  to  the  King's  mercy. 

With  the  fall  of  Nottingham  Richard  was  once 
more  in  full  possession  of  his  island  realm.  On  the 
17th  of  April  he  went  through  the  ceremony  at  Win- 
chester which  has  been  often  referred  to  as  a  second 
coronation,  but  seems  to  have  been  rather  a  great 
thanksgiving  service  at  which  the  King,  wearing 
his  robe  and  crown,  was  led  in  solemn  procession  to 
the  Minster,  with  the  swords  of  state — as  at  an  actual 
coronation-oarried  before  him.  As  he  stood  in  his 
royal  robes,  sceptre  in  hand  and  crown  on  head, 
amid  the  throng  of    bishops  and'  barons  in  the 


V 
i  ,■ 


214 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


"Old  Minster"  where  so  many  of  his  English 
forefathers  lay  sleeping,  past  shame  was  forgotten 
and  "  England  was  ready  once  more  to  welcome 
him  as  a  new  King." 

The  chief  sword  on  this  occasion  was  carried  by 
the  Ejng  of  Scots,  William  the  Lion,  who  had  come 
from  his  northern  kingdom  to  welcome  Eichard 
home,  and  at  the  same  time  try  to  obtain  for  himself 
the  inclusion  of  Northumberland  and  Cumberland 
in  his  kingdom.  Eleanor,  the  Queen-mother,  was 
present  at  this  impressive  ceremony,  doubtless  with 
a  full  and  thankful  heart  that  her  efforts  for  her 
beloved  son's  hberation  and  restoration  to  his 
kingdom  had  been  crowned  with  success — but  of 
Kichard's  beautiful  young  wife,  Berengaria,  there 
is  no  mention ;  she,  who  would  have  been  first  to 
welcome  him  had  the  early  promise  of  their  marriage 
been  fulfilled,  remained  abroad  apparently  indifferent 
— ^at  all  events,  apart  from  the  husband  she  had 
travelled  so  far  to  wed  but  a  few  years  before. 
History  is  strangely  silent  about  poor  Berengaria, 
but  at  least  her  name  has  escaped  the  breath  of 
slander,  so  probably  the  estrangement  was  Eichard's 
own  fault.  Like  many  another  man  who  has  gained 
fame,  he  missed  domestic  happiness. 

Great  blame  has  been  attached  to  the  King  for 
having,  as  is  generally  stated  to  have  been  the  case, 
taken  back  lands  which  he  had  sold  to  raise  money 
for  the  Crusade.  It  is  difficult  to  prove,  however,  that 
the  sales  were  absolute ;  many  of  them  may  have  been 
only  a  lease  for  terms  of  years,  though  the  purchasers 
undoubtedly  hoped  that  they  would  be  allowed  to 
keep  the  estates  they  thus  acquired  and  hand  them 
down  to  their  children. 


RICHARD  GOES  TO  FRANCE 


215 


It  throws  light  upon  Eichard's  character,  as  a 
man  more  liberal  minded  than  most  of  his  time, 
that  during  the  last  six  months  he  spent  in  England 
he  had  thought  for  that  hitherto  greatly  ill-used 
section  of  his  people — the  Jews — and,  remembering 
the  disgraceful  scene  that  happened  at  his  acces- 
sion to  the  throne,  made  ordinances  to  protect 
them  from  violence  in  the  future. 

Early  in  May,  having  set  his  house  in  order  at 
home,  and  left  the  country  in  the  charge  of  Hubert 
Walter,  who  had  all  the  powers  of  a  Viceroy,  Eichard 
made  preparations  to  cross  to  Normandy  and  put 
an  end  to  the  disorders  in  his  continental  dominions. 
Storms  were  ever  his  fate  whether  on  sea  or  on  land, 
and  when  he  reached  Portsmouth  he  found  his  vessels 
weatherbound,  and  impatiently  declared  that  if 
the  galleys  could  not  go  out  for  fear  of  capsizing 
in  the  wind  he  himself  would  cross  to  France  with 
his  most  faithful  followers  in  a  small  boat.  So 
he  set  out,  but  the  wind  was  so  violent  that  he  got 
no  farther  than  the  Isle  of  Wight,  and  next  day 
returned  to  Portsmouth. 

On  the  12th  of  May  another  attemptwas  made  and 
the  King  succeeded  in  reaching  Barfleur.  After  he 
had  spent  the  first  half  of  his  reign  in  fighting  for 
a  lost  cause  in  Palestine,  he  was  now  to  spend  the 
other  half  in  fighting  for  a  losing  cause  in  Gaul. 
The  reason  why  it  was  a  losing  cause,  as  well  as  of  the 
rivalry  between  Eichard  and  Philip,  is  not  far  to 
seek.    A  writer  on  the  Angevins  puts  it  very  clearly — 

"  The  final  result  of  the  long  series  of  conquests 
and  annexations  whereby  the  Angevin  Counts, 
from  Fulk  the  Eed  to  Henry  Fitz  Empress,  had 
been  enlarging  their  borders  for  more  than  two 


216 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


WINS  BACK  SOUTHERN  DOMINIONS      217 


I 


hundred  years,  had  been  to  bring  them  into  direct 
geographical  contact  and  poKtical  antagonism  with 
an  enemy  more  formidable  than  any  whom  they 
had  yet  encountered.  In  their  earliest  days  the 
King  of  the  French  had  been  their  patron ;  a  httle 
later  he  had  become  their  tool.  Now,  he  was  their 
sole  remaining  rival,  and  ere  long  he  was  to  be  their 
conqueror."'  ^ 

Yet  not  while  Richard  lived  were  the  Angevin 
dominions  to  be  lost ! 

Within  a  few  miles  of  Barfleur,  at  Bruis,  now  Brex, 
the  cradle  of  the  house  of  Bruce,  the  King  was  met 
by  his  treacherous  brother  John,  now  professing  re- 
pentance, and  anxious  to  save  his  skin  in  the  first 
place,  and  his  lands,  if  possible,  in  the  second.  Queen 
Eleanor,  though  loving  best  her  eldest  son,  was  yet 
a  mother,  and  pleaded  with  the  elder  for  the  younger, 
with  the  result  that  Richard  pardoned  his  brother 
and  "  gave  him  the  kiss  of  peace,""  though  he  wisely 
refused  to  allow  John  to  retain  a  single  castle  or 
acre  of  land ;  instead,  he  generously  offered  him  a 
financial  allowance  far  beyond  his  deserts. 

Having  settled  with  John,  he  hastened  to  raise 
the  siege  of  Verneuil  and  enjoyed  a  signal  victory, 
for  PhiHp,  with  an  evil  conscience,  fled  before  him. 

But  there  was  trouble  farther  south  on  the  borders 
of  the  coimtry  that  was  the  cradle  of  his  race,  and 
might  more  than  any  other  be  expected  to  be  faithful 
to  a  grandson  of  Fulk  Nera.  The  castle  of  Montmirail, 
on  the  borders  of  Perche  and  Maine,  was  besieged, 
report  said,  by  the  Angevins,  and  though  Richard 
hurried  to  the  rescue  it  was  levelled  to  the  ground 
before  his  arrival.      He   seems  to  have  found  it 

*  Angevin  Kings,  by  K.  Norgate,  p.  357. 


difficult  to  fix  the  blame  on  any  one  in  particular,  or 
perhaps  he  found  it  diplomatic  not  to  inquire  too 
deeply ;  he  marched  on  Tours,  which  opened  its 
gates,  and,  suspecting  disaffection  in  the  abbey  of  St. 
Martin,  which  was  under  the  protection  of  PhiUp,  he 
took  the  radical  measure  of  turning  out  the  monks. 
The  citizens  of  Tours  meanwhile  came  out  to  meet 
him,  and  made  a  demonstration  of  their  loyalty  and 
regret  for  any  encouragement  they  had  given  to  PhiUp, 
by  a  freewill  offering  of  2000  marks. 

It  seems  that  Richard's  personaKty  must  have 
been  a  powerful  spell — wherever  he  came  in  person  he 
won  men  to  allegiance,  but  he  was  almost  a  stranger  in 
many  parts  of  his  dominions,  and  he  was  attempting 
the  well-nigh  impossible  task  of  holding  together 
lands  which,  though  they  now  are  welded  together 
under  the  name  of  France,  were  then  as  far  apart 
in  race  and  sympathy  as  was  Richard's  island  realm 
from  his  dominions  in  Gaul.  To  the  greater  part  of 
his  subjects  Richard  was  an  absentee  landlord,  at 
home  nowhere,  though  he  was  master  everywhere. 
"  His  people  of  Aquitaine,  though  his  chivalrous 
character  appealed  to  their  romantic  nature, 
resented  being  governed  by  a  Duke  of  Normandy 
and  Anjou ;  on  the  other  hand,  Normans  and  Angevins 
still  saw  in  him,  as  they  had  been  taught  to  see  in  him 
for  the  first  twenty-six  years  of  his  life,  the  repre- 
sentative not  of  Heolf  and  William,  or  of  Fulk  the 
Red  and  Geoffrey  Martel,  but  simply  of  his  mother's 
Poitevin  ancestors.  The  Bretons  saw  in  him  the 
son  of  their  conqueror,  asserting  his  supremacy 
over  them  and  their  young  native  prince  only  by  the 
right  of  the  stronger."" 

Philip  well  knew  how  to  play  on  these  discordant 


218 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


elements  and  suggest  that  a  solution  would  be 
found  in  the  direct  rule  of  the  kings  of  France,  who 
had  always  been  acknowledged  in  theory  as  the 
superiors  of  the  rulers  of  Aquitaine  and  Anjou; 
while  Bertrand  de  Born,  ostensibly  Eichard's  friend, 
was  keeping  men's  passions  inflamed  by  his  war 
songs,  just  as  he  had  done  in  the  earher  days  when 
he  misused  his  talents  and  influence  to  stir  up 
enmity  betwixt  Henry  ii.  and  his  sons. 

From  Tours,  Richard  marched  to  the  strong  castle 
of  Loches,  which  had  been  garrisoned  byPhiUp,but  sur- 
rendered after  a  few  days'  siege.  Meanwhile  Phihp, 
though  he  had  avoided  an  encounter  with  Richard 
at  Vemeuil,  was  harassing  his  rival's  dominions 
in  the  north  while  he  was  engaged  in  Touraine. 
Reahsing  that  the  whole  country  was  being  devastated 
by  the  war,  the  archbishops  of  Rheims  and  Rouen — 
the  former  representing  the  Bang  of  France  and  the 
latter  the  King  of  England — used  their  influence  to 
bring  about  a  truce  of  a  year,  by  which  each  party 
should  retain  the  territory  of  which  he  was  in 
possession ;  the  negotiations  failed,  however,  through 
PhiHp's  ii^istence  on  a  clause  that  the  partisans 
of  both  sides  should  be  restricted  from  settling 
their  private  quarrels  by  the  sword.  The  ancient 
laws  of  Poitou  and  Aquitaine  laying  great  stress 
on  differences  between  gentlemen  being  settled  by 
single  combat,  Richard  feared  to  offend  the  nobles 
by  laying  upon  them  such  a  condition. 

Peace  negotiations  having  failed,  Philip  assumed 
the  defensive  and  marched  upon  Evreux,  of  which 
he  again  obtained  possession ;  then,  grown  bolder, 
he  marched  south  to  meet  Richard.  When  within 
a  few  miles  of  each  other — ^Richard  at  Vendome, 


u%j 


i 


■•»«sJ|fc83iMK»*tnR*B?W^ 


®' 


djlliii 


EFFIGV   OF    RICHARD    1.   AT  ROUEN   CATHEDRAL,   DISCOVERED    1838. 

See  p.  301. 


218 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


elements  and  suggest  that  a  solution  would  be 
found  in  the  direct  rule  of  the  kings  of  France,  who 
had  always  been  acknowledged  in  theory  as  the 
superiors  of  the  rulers  of  Aquitaine  and  Anjou; 
while  Bertrand  de  Born,  ostensibly  Richard's  friend, 
was  keeping  men's  passions  inflamed  by  his  war 
songs,  just  as  he  had  done  in  the  earlier  days  when 
he  misused  his  talents  and  influence  to  stir  up 
enmity  betwixt  Henry  ii.  and  his  sons. 

From  Tours,  Richard  marched  to  the  strong  castle 
of  Loches,whichhadbeengarrisoned  by  Philip, but  sur- 
rendered after  a  few  days'  siege.  Meanwhile  Philip, 
though  he  had  avoided  an  encounter  with  Richard 
at  Verneuil,  was  harassing  his  rival's  dominions 
in  the  north  while  he  was  engaged  in  Touraine. 
ReaUsing  that  the  whole  country  was  being  devastated 
by  the  war,  the  archbishops  of  Rheims  and  Rouen — 
the  former  representing  the  King  of  France  and  the 
latter  the  King  of  England — used  their  influence  to 
bring  about  a  truce  of  a  year,  by  which  each  party 
should  retain  the  territory  of  which  he  was  in 
possession ;  the  negotiations  failed,  however,  through 
Philip's  insistence  on  a  clause  that  the  partisans 
of  both  sides  should  be  restricted  from  settling 
their  private  quarrels  by  the  sword.  The  ancient 
laws  of  Poitou  and  Aquitaine  laying  great  stress 
on  differences  between  gentlemen  being  settled  by 
single  combat,  Richard  feared  to  offend  the  nobles 
by  laying  upon  them  such  a  condition. 

Peace  negotiations  having  failed,  Philip  assumed 
the  defensive  and  marched  upon  Evreux,  of  which 
he  again  obtained  possession ;  then,  grown  bolder, 
he  marched  south  to  mc^ot  Richaixl,  When  within 
a  few  miles  of  each  other — Richard  at  Venddme, 


Krn<;v  ny  KicH.%Ri>  i.  ^T  kovKS  l  \Tii»:r>R.\u  ihscovkkkd  1838. 

SW  fi.  501. 


PHILIP  DEFEATED 


221 


Philip  at  Freteral— we  are  told  that  "  polite  invita- 
tions  to  an  encounter  were  exchanged."    Appar- 
ently Philip,  never  remarkable  for  personal  bravery, 
decided  to  pursue  his  old   tactics    and    decamp' 
though  the  accounts  of  English  and  French  historians 
as  to  what  actually  happened  are  somewhat  con- 
flicting.   It  is  probable  that  Philip  suddenly  decided 
to  move  for  greater  safety  into  the  adjoining  territory 
of  his  ally,  the  Count  of  Blois  ;  and  Richard,  seeing 
the  move  and  determined  not  to  let  him  escape  a 
second  time,  fell  upon  his  rear-guard.    Certain  it  is 
that  he  captured  the  whole  French  baggage  train 
with  the  military  chest,  church  plate  out  of  the 
French  King's  private  chapel,  the  Royal  seal  and 
national  archives,  which,  according  to  the  strange 
custom  of  those  days,  were  taken  about  with  the 
King— among    these    papers    were    others    deeply 
interesting  to  Richard,  and  quite  as  useful  as  the 
treasure— the  hsts  of  those  barons  who  had  joined 
the  King  of  France  against  him. 

Just  as  the  signal  victory  at  Jaffa,  in  which 
Richard  displayed  such  superhuman  courage  and 
contempt  of  overwhehning  odds,  was  followed  by 
the  King's  iUness,  so  it  was  now.  It  would  appear 
that  his  strength  was  rather  that  of  nervous  energy 
than  of  brute  force,  and  after  he  had  conquered  by 
sheer  strength  of  will  the  inevitable  reaction  set  in. 
Failing  health,  however,  did  not  hinder  him  from 
moving  southward  and  winning  back  "all  the 
castle  of  the  Angoumois  and  all  the  lands  of 
Geoffrey,"  so  that  from  Vemeuil  to  the  Pyrenees  not 
a  rebel  remained  in  the  field. 
_  Having  pacified  his  whole  southern  possessions, 
Richard  turned  north  again  on  his  way  to  Normandy, 


222 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


MILITARY  TOURNAMENTS 


223 


r 


f{ 


i 


I  4         I 


but  visited  Anjou  and  Maine  on  the  way  and  took 
measures  to  secure  their  safety. 

On  his  arrival  in  the  north  he  found  that  his 
representatives,  headed  by  the  chancellor,  had  con- 
cluded a  truce  for  a  year  on  terms  obviously  more 
favourable  to  PhiUp  than  to  himself,  and  which  he 
felt  were  derogatory  to  his  dignity.  This  proceeding 
on  the  part  of  his  chancellor  was  the  ostensible 
reason  given  for  the  making  of  a  new  seal,  which 
furnished  a  plausible  reason  for  repudiating  all 
charters  not  signed  with  it.    The  terms  of  the  truce 

stated  that — 

1.  "  The  King  of  England  may  fortify,  if  he 
pleases,  Neubourg,  Driencourt,  Conches,  and  Breteuil ; 
the  other  fortresses  dismantled  or  partly  destroyed 
by  the  King  of  France  shall  remain  in  their  actual 
state  until  a  definite  peace  is  signed. 

2.  "  The  King  of  France  shall  remain  in  possession 
of  Val-de-Rueil,  Louviers,  Aquigny,  Loire,  and  the 
adjoining  territory  up  to  Haye-Malherbe  and  Pont 

de  TArche. 

3.  "  The  King  of  France,  during  the  truce,  may 
fortify,  dismantle,  or  burn  all  the  fortresses  in  his 
possession  up  to  the  day  of  signing  the  truce,  and  do 
what  he  pleases  with  aU  the  lands  he  may  have 
acquired  antecedently  to  such  signature. 

4.  "The  King  of  England  shaU  have  the  same 
right  over  the  fortresses  now  in  his  hand,  but  he 
shaU  not  be  at  Hberty  to  fortify  any  of  those  which 
the  King  of  France  may  have  dismantled,  except 
the  four  above  mentioned." 

It  was  further  agreed  that  "  Richard  King  of 
England  shall  remain  in  possession  of  what  he  holds 
on  this  side  of  the  Loire  in  the  direction  of  Normandy, 


and  as  to  what  concerns  lands  or  castles  beyond  the 
Loire,  they  shall  continue  in  the  state  in  which  they 
may  be  on  the  day  that  the  truce  is  signed.'' 

This  gave  Phihp  all  his  conquests  of  the  two 
preceding  years  which  he  had  unjustly  attained 
during  the  English  King's  captivity. 

The  winter  following  the  signing  of  this  treaty 
was  employed  by  Richard  in  raising  funds  to  try 
and  win  back  at  the  termination  of  the  truce  the 
territories  of  which  the  French  King  had  possessed 
himseK.  To  keep  aUve  the  martial  spirit  of  his  people 
during  the  period  of  peace,  and  at  the  same  time 
enrich  the  treasury,  he  resorted  to  the  expedient 
of  reviving  the  miUtary  tournaments  which  had 
fallen  into  disuse  owing  to  the  condemnation  of  the 
church,  on  account  of  the  licence  they  had  given  to 
the  younger  nobles. 

There  is  a  warrant  still  existing,  dated  22nd 
August  1194,1  which  was  sent  by  Richard  to  Hubert 
Walter,  authorising  these  mihtary  exhibitions  and 
drawing  up  rules  for  their  conduct.  The  tourna- 
ments were  to  be  held  at  five  places  in  England, 
i.e.  between  Salisbury  and  Wilton,  between  Warwick 
and  Kenilworth,  between  Stamford  and  Warnford, 
between  Brackley  and  Wyburg,  and  between  Bhe 
andTickhiU. 

The  price  for  entering  the  lists  was  settled  accord- 
ing to  the  rank  of  those  competing  ;  an  Earl  paid  20 
marks,  a  baron  10  marks,  and  a  "  knight  that  hath 
lands  ''  4  marks,  and  the  Justiciary  was  instructed 
to  send  to  each  tournament  "  two  of  your  clergy 
and  two  knights,  to  take  oath  of  each  Earl  and 

1  From  Harleian  MSS.  293,  mentioned  in  The  Third  Crusade,  bv 
W.H.Rule.  ^ 


t 


224 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


DEATH  OF  DUKE  OF  AUSTRIA 


225 


If  I 


iii 


I  > 


Baron  for  satisfying  us  of  the  said  money  before 
each  Tournament  begin." 

Richard  has  been  criticised  severely  for  this 
method  of  replenishing  his  war  chest,  but  it  was  not 
so  unjustifiable  as  some  historians  would  have  us 
believe.  He  well  knew  that  he  would  have  need 
of  all  the  military  ardour  he  could  stir  up  as  well  as  a 
well-filled  Treasury  to  hold  together  his  continental 
dominions  against  the  King  of  France,  and  he  had 
the  prestige  of  England,  damaged  by  her  King's 
captivity,  and  not  improved  by  the  humiUating  con- 
ditions of  the  treaty,  as  well  as  his  own,  to  restore. 
The  nobles  who  entered  for  these  tourneys  were  men 
who  had  Uttle  interest  in  Ufe,  apart  from  battle  or 
the  chase,  and  were  very  possibly  kept  from  worse 
mischief  by  the  opportunity  the  tourneys  gave  for 
feats  of  arms— moreover,  the  tournaments  were  con- 
ducted under  the  strictest  rules  of  chivahy. 

To  an  impartial  student  of  Richard's  Ufe  it  seems 
that  at  this  crisis  the  revival  of  the  tournament  was 
an  exceedingly  wise  and  diplomatic  step,  and  as  the 
nobles  crowded  to  the  appointed  places  from  all 
parts  of  the  kingdom  there  is  little  doubt  the  money 
thus  raised  was  no  inconsiderable  sum.  The  financial 
situation  was  also  improved,  in  the  following  Decem- 
ber, by  the  remission  of  the  ransom  money  due  to  the 
Duke  of  Austria,  who  died  an  agonising  death  from 
the  effect  of  a  fall  from  his  horse,  and  in  his  last 
hours  admitted  that  his  sufferings  were  a  just 
recompense  for  his  treachery  and  cruelty  to  Richard. 

It  is  probable  that  the  ban  of  excommunication 
pronounced  against  the  Duke  by  the  Pope  for  assault- 
ing a  fellow-Crusader,  and  for  which  he  cared  little 
while  in  health,  weighed  upon  him  heavily  in  the  face 


of  death,  and  the  priest  urged  him  to  make  what 
amends  he  could.  Leopold's  story  is  certainly  a 
remarkable  commentary  on  the  precept  that  as 
"  a  man  soweth  so  shall  he  reap."  Not  for  a  moment 
did  he  enjoy  the  fruits  of  his  treachery  after  he  had 
satisfied  his  revenge,  for  the  Emperor  claimed  his 
prisoner  from  him,  and  proved  faithless  in  the  pay- 
ment of  the  share  of  the  ransom  he  had  promised, 
so  that  Leopold  received  in  all  but  4000  marks  in- 
stead of  50,000,  and  the  manner  of  the  Duke's  death 
was  a  slow  agony  which  amply  avenged  Richard's 
incarceration  in  the  dungeons  of  Diirrenstein.  Con- 
temporary chroniclers  dwell  on  the  details,  evidently 
rehshing  what  they  regarded  as  Divine  retribution. 
Roger  of  Wendover  relates  that,  the  bone  of  the 
Duke's  leg  being  fractured,  amputation  was  performed 
in  the  dreadful  manner  of  the  time — driving  the  iron 
through  flesh  and  bone  by  strokes  of  a  blacksmith's 
hammer.  Little  wonder  that  the  unhappy  patient 
did  not  long  survive  this  terrible  operation. 

Though  the  dead  man  had  remitted  the  ransom, 
his  sons  seem  to  have  hesitated  to  release  the 
hostages  after  the  breath  had  left  their  father's 
body,  and  this  brought  about  the  scandal  of  the 
corpse  remaining  uninterred  till  in  the  last  stages  of 
putrefaction,  for  the  Bishops  refused  it  burial  till 
the  hostages  were  set  free  to  return  to  their  own  land. 

Perhaps  the  dreadful  fate  of  his  old  enemy  may 
have  had  a  softening  effect  upon  Richard,  for  at  this 
time  he  had  one  of  the  Angevin  fits  of  penitence 
which  manifested  itself  not  only  in  the  outward 
observance  of  reHgion  and  took  him  to  early  Mass 
daily,  but  had  the  salutary  effect  of  causing  him  to 
redeem  his  promise  to  restore  the  church  plate  given 


226 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


for  his  ransom,  by  having  new  chalices  of  gold  and 
silver  made  for  the  difierent  churches  and  rehgious 
houses  from  which  they  had  been  taken.  Also  he 
distributed  alms  daily,  not  only  at  his  court,  but  by 
providing  for  poor  pensioners  throughout  the  country, 
of  which  there  were  many ;  for  the  insecurity  of  Ufe 
and  property,  owing  to  the  war,  had  interfered  with 
agricultural  operations  and  brought  about  a  great 
dearth. 

It  was  inevitable  that  if  his  desire  to  atone  for 
past  wrongs  was  sincere,  Richard  must  be  reconciled 
to  Berengaria  to  whom  he  had  been  unfaithful,  and 
with  whom  he  had  not  lived  since  they  parted  in  the 
Holy  Land,  but  who  readily  forgave  and  returned  to 
him. 


4 

f 


a. 


CHAPTER   XVII 

WARS  WITH  PHILIP — RICHARD'S  DIPLOMACY — BUILDING 
OF  CHATEAU  GAILLARD — MEETING  WITH  PHILIP — 
TREASURE-TROVE  AT  CHALUZ — THE  SIEGE — DEATH 
OF  THE  KING — BURIAL  AT  FONTEVRAUD. 


The  truce  that  had  been  made  between  the  Kings  of 
France  and  England  for  a  year  lasted  but  six  months ; 
historians  differ  somewhat  in  their  accounts  of 
how  it  was  broken.  The  probability  is  that  it  came 
to  Philip's  knowledge  that  the  Emperor  of  Germany, 
having  made  himself  master  of  Sicily,  was  indulging 
in  the  "  old  dream  by  which  the  German  Emperor 
never  ceased  to  be  haunted,'*  of  supremacy  over 
Gaul,  and  to  this  end  had  sent  his  former  prisoner, 
with  whom  he  had  established  an  alliance  before 
he  set  him  free,  "  a  golden  crown  and  a  message 
charging  him,  on  his  plighted  faith  to  the  Emperor, 
and  on  the  very  lives  of  his  hostages,  to  invade  the 
French  kingdom  at  once,  and  promising  him  the 
support  and  co-operation  of  the  Imperial  forces."  ^ 

Whether  the  already  proved  perfidious  Emperor 
would  have  redeemed  his  promise  is  open  to  doubt ; 
very  likely  he  aimed  at  making  Richard  the  cat's 
paw  to  pull  the  chestnuts  out  of  the  fire,  while  he 
himself  looked  on  at  a  discreet  distance,  to  see  if  his 

^  Angevin  Kings,  vol.  ii.  p.  372. 

227 


\^ 


228 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


I' 


h 


M 


tool  got  burnt,  and  come  in  for  the  spoil  if  he  suc- 
ceeded ;  but  Richard  profited  by  his  overtures  to 
obtain  a  remission  of  seventeen  thousand  marks  of 
the  ransom  which  was  still  unpaid,  so  that,  together 
with  the  remission  of  the  money  due  to  the  Duke 
of  Austria,  the  burden  of  debt  upon  his  subjects  was 
a  little  Ughtened. 

PhiUp  was  the  first  to  break  the  peace,  and  several 
border  skirmishes  ensued,  followed  by  another  confer- 
ence at  Vaudreuil.  While  it  was  going  on,  part  of  the 
city  wall  collapsed,  which  brought  to  light  the  fact  that 
it  had  been  quietly  undermined  by  Philip  in  prepara- 
tion for  retirement,  and  that  he  had  pursued  similar 
tactics  with  all  the  castles  he  feared  he  might  have 
to  surrender.  Richard  in  anger  broke  off  the 
negotiations  and  forthwith  drove  Philip  across  the 
Seine,  though  according  to  the  terms  of  the  treaty 
the  French  King  had  the  right  to  "  fortify,  dismantle, 
or  bum  "  all  the  fortresses  in  his  possession.  Fight- 
ing, however,  did  not  last  long,  owing  to  lack  of 
supplies  on  both  sides,  and  a  fresh  truce  was  made, 
till  the  following  November,  when  another  meeting 
was  arranged  at  Vaudreuil,  but  broken  off  before  the 
Bangs  came  together.  Richard  then  laid  siege  to 
Arques  and,  for  the  first  time  in  his  war  with  Philip, 
sustained  a  reverse,  but  paid  it  back  by  an  attack 
on  the  rear-guard  of  Philip's  army  on  the  return 
march.  The  whole  of  this  period  of  the  war  is  a 
tiresome  repetition  of  small  engagements,  unreheved 
by  any  deeds  of  special  gallantry  as  was  the  Palestine 
campaign.  In  January  1196  the  Kings  met  and 
signed  another  treaty,  which,  like  the  first  one,  dis- 
tinctly favoured  Philip  at  Kichard'8  expense,  and  it 
8tiange  that  the  latter  signed  it ,  and  especially 


C/5 

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Q 

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X 

u 
u 

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JM 


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V 


228 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


tool  got  burnt,  and  come  in  for  the  spoil  if  he  suc- 
ceeded ;  but  Richard  profited  by  his  overtures  to 
obtain  a  remission  of  seventeen  thousand  marks  of 
the  ransom  which  was  still  unpaid,  so  that,  together 
with  the  remission  of  the  money  due  to  the  Duke 
of  Austria,  the  burden  of  debt  upon  his  subjects  was 
a  little  hghtened. 

Philip  was  the  first  to  break  the  peace,  and  several 
border  skirmishes  ensued,  followed  by  another  confer- 
ence at  Vaudreuil.  While  it  was  going  on,  part  of  the 
city  wall  collapsed,  which  brought  to  light  the  fact  that 
it  had  been  quietly  undermined  by  Philip  in  prepara- 
tion for  retirement,  and  that  he  had  pursued  similar 
tactics  with  all  the  castles  he  feared  he  might  have 
to  surrender.  Richard  in  anger  broke  off  the 
negotiations  and  forthwith  drove  PhiUp  across  the 
Seine,  though  according  to  the  terms  of  the  treaty 
the  French  King  had  the  right  to  "  fortify,  dismantle, 
or  burn  "  all  the  fortresses  in  his  possession.  Fight- 
ing, however,  did  not  last  long,  owing  to  lack  of 
supplies  on  both  sides,  and  a  fresh  truce  was  made, 
till  the  following  November,  when  another  meeting 
was  arranged  at  Vaudreuil,  but  broken  off  before  the 
Kings  came  together.  Richard  then  laid  siege  to 
Arques  and,  for  the  first  time  in  his  war  with  Phihp, 
sustained  a  reverse,  but  paid  it  back  by  an  attack 
on  the  rear-guard  of  PhiHp's  army  on  the  return 
march.  The  whole  of  this  period  of  the  war  is  a 
tiresome  repetition  of  small  engagements,  unreHeved 
by  any  deeds  of  special  gallantry  as  was  the  Palestine 
campaign.  In  January  1196  the  Kings  met  and 
signed  another  treaty,  which,  like  the  first  one,  dis- 
tinctly favoured  Phihp  at  Richard's  expense,  and  it 
seems  strange  that  the  latter  signed  it,  and  especially 


5 

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Of. 


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WARS  WITH  PHILIP 


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that  he  accepted  "  cessions  in  Berri  at  the  expense 
of  the  vital  Norman  frontier,"  unless,  as  a  modern 
historian  has  suggested,  he  was  "  more  of  a  Poitevin 
than  a  Norman,''  and  cared  more  for  the  hot-headed 
people  of  Aquitaine,  who  were  perpetually  in  revolt, 
than  for  his  loyal  subjects  in  the  north.  The  most 
remarkable  and  important  feature  of  this  treaty 
relates  to  the  rights  of  the  Archbishop  of  Rouen 
over  Les  Andelys,  on  which  Richard  was  perhaps 
already  seeing  in  prophetic  vision  the  "saucy  castle'' — 
Chateau  Gaillard — which  was  to  be  his  most  enduring 
monument.  Whether  this  were  so  or  no,  both  Eangs 
fully  recognised  the  strategic  value  of  Les  Andelys, 
and  so, ''  each  hoping  to  outwit  the  other,  they  agreed 
to  clauses  subjecting  the  power  of  the  Archbishop 
of  Rouen  of  uttering  any  excommunication  or  inter- 
dict in  respect  of  Les  Andeleys  to  the  supervision  of 
a  committee  to  be  named  by  themselves ;  while  at 
the  same  time  they  themselves  renounced  any  rights 
of  property,  or  claim  to  fortify  any  site  at  Les 
Andelys."  ^ 

The  Archbishop  naturally  objected  to  such  in- 
terference with  Church  rites,  and  laid  all  Normandy 
under  an  interdict  until  compensation  was  promised. 

Meanwhile  Richard,  in  defiance  aUke  of  his  treaty 
and  the  displeasure  of  Pope  and  clergy,  had  quietly 
taken  possession  of  Les  Andelys  and  actually  com- 
menced building  two  fortresses  there — one  on  an 
island  in  the  river,  and  another  on  a  rock  that  over- 
hung it.  The  scandahsed  Archbishop  threatened 
new  pains  and  penalties,  but  at  the  moment  an 
event  of  European  importance  occurred  in  the  death 
of  the  German  Emperor,  which  gave  Richard  far 

'  See  The  Angevin  Empire,  p.  349. 


,f' 


232 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


R 


m 


^ 


i i 


more  weight  in  the  councils  of  Europe  and  enabled 
him  to  maintain  his  position  of  arrogant  defiance. 

Henry  vi.  died  on  Michaelmas  Eve  1197,  and  the 
princes  of  Germany  sent  an  embassy  summoning 
King  Kichard,  "  as  chief  among  the  lay  members 
of  the  Empire  by  virtue  of  his  investiture  with  the 
kingdom  of  Aries,"  ^  to  take  part  with  them  in  the 
election  of  a  new  Emperor  at  Cologne. 

Richard,  unable  to  leave  Gaul,   proposed  his 
nephew,  Duke  Henry  of  Saxony,  eldest  son  and  suc- 
cessor of  Henry  the  Lion,  as  a  candidate  for  the  Im- 
perial throne ;  but  the  other  electors  rejected  him  on 
account  of  his  absence  in  the  Holy  Land.    Richard's 
representative  then  named  Henry's  brother  Otto, 
who  was   accepted   and   crowned  "  King   of   the 
Romans,"  an  event  which  must  have  given  Richard 
no  small  satisfaction.    It  was  a  strange  reversal 
of  the  position  of  a  few  years  before  -when  he,  a 
prisoner,  pleaded  before  the  Emperor  at  the  Bar — 
that  his  nephew,  the  grandson  of  Henry  Fitz  Em- 
press and,  as  such,  the  representative  of  the  Angevin 
house  should  sit  upon  the  Imperial  throne,  owing  his 
dignity  to  his  Lion-Hearted  uncle.    When  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Rouen  went  to  Rome  in  the  following 
November,  to  personally  lay  a  complaint  against  the 
King  of  England  for  his  high-handed  action  at  Les 
Andelys,  Richard's  embassy,  sent  after  him,  had 
little  difficulty  in  persuading  the  Pope  to  take  a 
lenient  view  of  the  ofEence  and  accept  a  monetary 
compensation — ^for  the  King,  whose  influence  had 
placed  the  Emperor  upon  his  throne,  was  a  person  to 
be  propitiated  even  by  the  Pope. 

Richard's  diplomacy  came  ever  more  and  more 

*  Angevin  Kings,  p.  372. 


1 1 


WARS  WITH  PHILIP 


283 


to  the  front  in  the  later  years  of  his  life.  His 
favourite  sister  Johanna  had  formed  an  attachment 
to  the  son  of  the  hereditary  enemy  of  the  Angevin 
house — that  of  Toulouse — ^whom  she  had  met  in  the 
Holy  Land.  On  the  old  Count's  death  he  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  son  Raymond  v.,  who  had  acted  as 
escort  to  the  two  Queens  on  their  way  back  from 
Palestine.  Richard  encouraged  his  sister's  attach- 
ment, which  she  must  have  feared  would  be  con- 
sidered ill-placed,  and  so  buried  the  hatchet  between 
his  family  and  that  of  Toulouse,  and  secured  an  ally 
to  protect  the  eastern  border  of  Aquitaine,  which 
from  this  time  on  became  one  of  the  most  peaceable 
of  his  possessions,  perhaps  because  Bertrand  de  Born 
was  ending  his  strange  life  (as  so  many  a  mihtant 
spirit  did,  to  atone  for  violent  deeds  in  those  days) 
within  the  quiet  walls  of  a  monastery,  where  his 
minstrelsy  was  hushed  or  may  have  found  vent  in 
chants  instead  of  war  songs. 

Philip,  looking  round  for  an  ally  in  place  of  John, 
whom  he  had  effectually  lost,  as  soon  as  the  latter 
discovered  he  could  now  serve  his  own  interests  best 
by  supporting  his  brother,  found  troubled  waters 
in  Brittany  in  which  to  fish,  and  succeeded  in  landing 
in  his  own  net  httle  Arthur  of  Brittany,  the  son  of 
Richard's  brother  Geoffrey  and  Constance,  whom  the 
English  King  at  one  time  intended  to  make  his  heir. 

In  accordance  with  the  cruel  Norman  law  of  the 
time  (which  left  heiresses  and  widows  entirely  in  the 
hands  of  the  King,  to  be  sold  to  the  highest  bidder  if 
he  so  pleased,  or  forced  into  any  alUance  that  seemed 
to  him  politic),  a  marriage  was  arranged  for  Constance 
with  a  certain  "  Earl  Ralf  of  Chester  "  before  her 
first  husband  had  been  dead  a  year,  because  the 


il  i; 


I 


I" 


|l! 


■ 


i 


I 'If 

'.'! 


|i!|.  I 


234 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


Earls  of  Chester  were  at  the  same  time  hereditary 
rulers  of  the  border  between  Normandy  and  Brittany 
— ^a  wild  country  then  known  as  the  Arranch — and  by 
this  marriage  Henry  hoped  to  get  a  firmer  hold  on 
Brittany,  which  nominally  owed  allegiance  to  the 
Duke  of  Normandy,  but  virtually  was  independent. 
In  this  case,  however,  the  plan  did  not  work,  for 
Constance,  though  she  was  obliged  to  submit  to  the 
marriage,  had  sufficient  force  of  character  to  assert 
herself  after  marriage,  and  was  supported  by  the 
Breton  people,  who  rallied  round  her  and  her  little 
son,  so  that  she  seems  to  have  set  both  her  husband 
and  her  royal  relatives — ^first  her  uncle  and  then  her 
cousin — at  defiance,  and  ruled  as  an  independent 
sovereign.     As  long  as  she  remained  within   her 
own  borders  she  was  safe,  but  when  summoned  by 
Richard  to  meet  him  in  Normandy,  she — ^perhaps 
influenced  by  the  fame  of  his  martial  prowess  and 
fearing  invasion  of  her  little  realm  if  she  refused — 
compUed.    But  to  reach  the  place  of  meeting  she 
had  to  pass  through  her  husband's  territory,  and  he 
seized  the  opportunity  to  seize  and  shut  her  up  in 
prison.    This  left  her  httle  son  alone  in  Brittany. 
Richard    appKed    for    his    guardianship,    but    the 
Bretons,  ever  jealous  of  the  power  of  their  Norman 
neighbours,  hid  him  away ;    Philip  at  once  came 
forward  to  offer  Arthur  his  guardianship,  which 
was  accepted. 

Meanwhile  the  fortress  on  the  rock  was  slowly 
growing  into  the  greatest  marvel  of  mihtary  archi- 
tecture that  men  had  ever  seen.  Richard  was 
rearing  not  alone  a  castle  worthy  of  the  greatest 
son  of  the  castle-building  Counts  of  Anjou,  but 
unwittingly  his  own  memorial  which  should  tell  his 


BUILDING  OF  CHATEAU  GAILLARD     235 


story  throughout  the  ages — ^for  while  one  stone  of 
Castle  Gaillard  remains  upon  another  Coeur  de  Lion 
will  never  be  forgotten. 

It  was  something  after  his  own  heart,  the 
building  of  this  "  saucy  castle  "  in  defiance  of  the 
Pope  and  the  Kmg  of  France,  and  it  was  and  is 
the  personified  thought  of  its  maker,  the  epitome 
of  what  is  audacious  and  fearless,  seeming  to  bid 
defiance  to  all  comers  as  it  proudly  rears  its  towers 
against  the  sky,  "  where  the  Seine  bends  suddenly 
at  Gaillon  in  a  great  semicircle  to  the  north,  and 
where  the  valley  of  Les  Andelys  breaks  the  line 
of  the  chalk  cliffs  along  its  banks.""  No  more 
charming  description  of  the  view  from  his  lofty  rock 
is  possible  than  that  given  in  Green's  History  of  the 
English  People :  "  Blue  masses  of  woodland  crown 
the  distant  hills ;  within  the  river  curve  Hes  a  dull 
reach  of  flat  meadow,  round  which  the  Seine,  broken 
with  green  islets  and  dappled  with  the  grey  and  blue 
of  the  sky,  flashes  like  a  silver  bow  on  its  way  to 
Rouen." 

There  is  a  legend  dwelt  on  by  French  historians 
that,  during  the  war  with  PhiUp,  the  English  King 
had  thrown  three  French  prisoners  from  the  rock 
of  Les  Andelys  into  the  abyss  below  in  vengeance 
for  the  slaughter  of  his  Welsh  troops.  If  it  be  true, 
the  rock  was  indeed  baptized  with  blood,  and  it 
seems  but  just  retribution  that  the  fortress,  built 
as  a  bulwark  against  the  French  King's  encroach- 
ments, should  have  fallen  into  his  hands  but  a  few 
years  after  Richard's  death. 

How  he  planned  the  fortifications  which  were  to 
check  a  French  invasion  by  interposing  an  in- 
surmountable  barrier   between   Philip's  dominions 


i 


ml 


.V 

.1  t 


234 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


Earls  of  Chester  were  at  the  same  time  hereditary 

rulers  of  the  border  between  Normandy  and  Brittany 

— a  wild  country  then  known  as  the  Arranch — and  by 

this  marriage  Henry  hoped  to  get  a  firmer  hold  on 

Brittany,  which  nominally  owed  allegiance  to  the 

Duke  of  Normandy,  but  virtually  was  independent. 

In  this  case,  however,  the  plan  did  not  work,  for 

Constance,  though  she  was  obliged  to  submit  to  the 

marriage,  had  sufficient  force  of  character  to  assert 

herself  after  marriage,  and  was  supported  by  the 

Breton  people,  who  rallied  round  her  and  her  little 

son,  so  that  she  seems  to  have  set  both  her  husband 

and  her  royal  relatives — ^first  her  uncle  and  then  her 

cousin — at  defiance,  and  ruled  as  an  independent 

sovereign.     As  long  as  she  remained  within   her 

own  borders  she  was  safe,  but  when  summoned  by 

Richard  to  meet  him  in  Normandy,  she — ^perhaps 

influenced  by  the  fame  of  his  martial  prowess  and 

fearing  invasion  of  her  little  realm  if  she  refused — 

comphed.    But  to  reach  the  place  of  meeting  she 

had  to  pass  through  her  husband's  territory,  and  he 

seized  the  opportunity  to  seize  and  shut  her  up  in 

prison.    This  left  her  little  son  alone  in  Brittany. 

Richard    applied    for    his    guardianship,    but    the 

Bretons,  ever  jealous  of  the  power  of  their  Norman 

neighbours,  hid  him  away ;    Philip  at  once  came 

forward  to  offer   Arthur  his   guardianship,  which 

was  accepted. 

Meanwhile  the  fortress  on  the  rock  was  slowly 
growing  into  the  greatest  marvel  of  mihtary  archi- 
tecture that  men  had  ever  seen.  Richard  was 
rearing  not  alone  a  castle  worthy  of  the  greatest 
son  of  the  castle-building  Counts  of  Anjou,  but 
unwittingly  his  own  memorial  which  should  tell  his 


~   I .  " 


i 


BUILDING  OF  CHATEAU  GAILLARD     235 

story  throughout  the  ages — ^for  while  one  stone  of 
Castle  Gaillard  remains  upon  another  Coeur  de  Lion 
will  never  be  forgotten. 

It  was  something  after  his  own  heart,  the 
building  of  this  "  saucy  castle  "  in  defiance  of  the 
Pope  and  the  King  of  France,  and  it  was  and  is 
the  personified  thought  of  its  maker,  the  epitome 
of  what  is  audacious  and  fearless,  seeming  to  bid 
defiance  to  all  comers  as  it  proudly  rears  its  towers 
against  the  sky,  "  where  the  Seine  bends  suddenly 
at  Gaillon  in  a  great  semicircle  to  the  north,  and 
where  the  valley  of  Les  Andelys  breaks  the  line 
of  the  chalk  cliffs  along  its  banks."*'  No  more 
charming  description  of  the  view  from  his  lofty  rock 
is  possible  than  that  given  in  Green's  History  of  the 
English  People :  "  Blue  masses  of  woodland  crown 
the  distant  hills ;  within  the  river  curve  hes  a  dull 
reach  of  flat  meadow,  round  which  the  Seine,  broken 
with  green  islets  and  dappled  with  the  grey  and  blue 
of  the  sky,  flashes  like  a  silver  bow  on  its  way  to 
Rouen." 

There  is  a  legend  dwelt  on  by  French  historians 
that,  during  the  war  with  Philip,  the  English  King 
had  thrown  three  French  prisoners  from  the  rock 
of  Les  Andelys  into  the  abyss  below  in  vengeance 
for  the  slaughter  of  his  Welsh  troops.  If  it  be  true, 
the  rock  was  indeed  baptized  with  blood,  and  it 
seems  but  just  retribution  that  the  fortress,  built 
as  a  bulwark  against  the  French  King's  encroach- 
ments, should  have  fallen  into  his  hands  but  a  few 
years  after  Richard's  death. 

How  he  planned  the  fortifications  which  were  to 
check  a  French  invasion  by  interposing  an  in- 
surmountable  barrier   between   Philip's   dominions 


I 


t 


1 


M 


I 


t,  '' 


I'* 


:  r^''"': 


236 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


i",„t| 


inl- 


and Ms  northern  capital  of  Rouen  is  so  graphically 
and  minutely  described  in  a  history  of  the  Angevins 
that  I  quote  it  in  full— 

"  His  first  act  was  to  seize  the  isle  of  Andely. 
Here  he  built  a  lofty  octagonal  tower,  encircled 
by  a  ditch  and  rampart,  and  threw  a  bridge  over 
the  river  from  each  side  of  the  island,  hnking  it 
thus   to   either   shore.     On   the   right,   below  the 
eastern  bridge,  he  traced  out  the  walls  of  a  new 
town,  which  took  the  name  of  the  New  or  the  Lesser 
Andely,  a  secure  stronghold  whose  artificial  defences 
of  ramparts  and  towers  were  surrounded  by  the 
further  protection  of  the  lake  on  the  eastern  side, 
the  Seine  on  the  west,  and  the  two  lesser  rivers  to 
north  and  south,  a  bridge  spanning  each  of  these 
two  little  streams  forming  the  sole  means  of  access 
from  the  mainland.     The  southern  bridge,  that  over 
the   Gambon,   linked   this   New   Andely  with   the 
foot  of  the  rock  that  was  to  be  crowned  with  the 
mightiest  work  of  all.     Richard  began  by  digging 
out  to  a  yet  greater  depth  the  ravines  which  parted 
this  rock  from  the  surrounding  heights,  so  as  to 
make  it  wholly  inaccessible  save  by  the  one  con- 
necting   isthmus    at    its    south-eastern    extremity. 
On  its  summit,  which  formed  a  plateau  some  six 
hundred  feet  in  length  and  two  hundred  in  breadth 
at  the  widest  part,  he  reared  a  triple  fortress.    The 
outer  ward   consisted    of   a   triangular  enclosure ; 
its   apex,   facing   the   isthmus   already   mentioned, 
was  crowned  by  a  large  round  tower  with  walls 
ten  feet  in  thickness ;    the  extremities  of  its  base 
were    strengthened    by    similar    towers,    and    two 
smaller  ones  broke  the  line  of  the  connecting  curtain 
wall.    This  was  surrounded  by  a  ditch  cut  in  the 


BUILDING  OF  CHATEAU  GAILLARD      237 

rock  to  a  depth  of  more  than  forty  feet,  and  having 
a  perpendicular  counterscarp.  Fronting  the  base 
of  this  outer  fortress,  across  the  ditch  on  its 
north-western  side,  was  a  rampart  surrounded  by 
a  wall  ninety  feet  long  and  eight  feet  thick, 
also  flanked  by  two  round  towers ;  from  these 
a  similar  wall  ran  all  round  the  edges  of  the 
plateau,  where  the  steep  sides  of  the  rock  itseM 
took  the  place  of  rampart  and  ditch.  The  wall 
on  the  south-west  side — ^the  river  front — ^was  broken 
by  another  tower,  cyHndrical  without,  octagonal 
within ;  and  its  northern  extremity  was  protected 
by  two  mighty  rectangular  bastions.  Close  against 
one  of  these  stood  a  round  tower,  which  served  as 
a  base  of  a  third  enclosure,  the  heart  and  citadel 
of  the  whole  fortress.  Two-thirds  of  its  elHptical 
outline,  on  the  east  and  south,  were  formed  by  a 
succession  of  semicircular  bastions,  or  segments 
of  towers,  seventeen  in  number,  each  parted  from 
its  neighbour  by  scarcely  more  than  two  feet  of 
curtain  wall — ^an  arrangement  apparently  imitated 
from  the  fortress  of  Cherbourg,  which  was  accounted 
the  greatest  marvel  of  mihtary  architecture  in 
Normandy,  until  its  fame  was  ecUpsed  by  that  of 
Richard's  work.  This  portion  of  the  enclosure  was 
built  upon  a  rampart  formed  by  the  excava- 
tion of  a  ditch  about  fifteen  to  twenty  feet  in 
width;  the  counterscarp,  like  that  of  the  outer 
ditches,  was  perpendicular ;  and  a  series  of  case- 
mates cut  in  the  rock  ran  along  on  this  side  for  a 
distance  of  about  eighty  feet.  On  the  western  side 
of  the  citadel  stood  the  keep,  a  mighty  circular 
tower,  with  walls  of  the  thickness  of  twelve  feet, 
terminating  at  an  angle  of  twenty  feet  in  depth 


J; 


238 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


where  it  projected  into  the  enclosure ;  it  had  two 
or  perhaps  three  stages,  and  was  hghted  by  two 
great  arched  windows,  whence  the  eye  could  range 
at  will  over  the  wooded  hills  and  dales  of  the  Vexin, 
or  the  winding  course  of  the  river  broadening  on- 
ward to  Rouen.  Behind  the  keep  was  placed 
the  principal  dweUing-house,  and  under  this  a 
staircase  cut  out  of  the  rock  gave  access  to  an 
underground  passage  leading  to  some  outworks 
and  a  tower  near  the  foot  of  the  hill,  whence  a  wall 
was  carried  down  to  the  river-bank,  just  beyond 
the  northern  extremity  of  a  long  narrow  island 
known  as  *  the  isle  of  the  Three  Kings,'  doubtless 
from  some  one  of  the  many  meetings  held  in  this 
district  by  Louis  vn.  or  PhiUp  Augustus  and  the  two 
Henrys.  The  river  itseM  was  barred  by  a  double 
stockade,  crossing  its  bed  from  shore  to  shore.'' 

One  can  imagine  how  the  building  of  this  mighty 
fortress  must  have  been  the  talk  of  the  whole 
countryside — ^how  Richard's  followers  deified  him 
more  and  more,  and  how  his  enemies  lost  courage  and 
began  to  regard  him  as  invincible.  He  had  the  gift 
of  turning  the  most  apparently  untoward  circum- 
stances to  advantage,  of  snatching  success  out  of 
defeat,  as  is  shown  by  his  brilhant  victory  with  a 
handful  of  men  against  overwhelming  odds  at  Acre, 
and  the  use  he  made  of  his  imprisonment  in  Germany 
to  form  an  alUance  with  the  perfidious  Emperor, 
which  was  of  great  value  to  him  later.  So  now 
the  attacks  of  PhiUp  on  his  domains  had  brought 
about  that  which  was  to  crown  his  renown,  showing 
him  not  alone  as  an  intrepid  soldier  and  beau-ideal 
of  chivalry,  foremost  in  every  fight,  but  as  a  far- 
seeing  military  genius  who  had  made  use  of  the 


CHATEAU   GAILLARD    FROM   THE   SEINE,   AFTER  TURNER'S 

DRAWING.— 5^^  /.  298. 


238 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


where  it  projected  into  the  enclosure ;  it  had  two 
or  perhaps  three  stages,  and  was  hghted  by  two 
great  arched  windows,  whence  the  eye  could  range 
at  will  over  the  wooded  hills  and  dales  of  the  Vexin, 
or  the  winding  course  of  the  river  broadening  on- 
ward to  Rouen.  Behind  the  keep  was  placed 
the  principal  dweUing-house,  and  under  this  a 
staircase  cut  out  of  the  rock  gave  access  to  an 
underground  passage  leading  to  some  outworks 
and  a  tower  near  the  foot  of  the  hill,  whence  a  wall 
was  carried  down  to  the  river-bank,  just  beyond 
the  northern  extremity  of  a  long  narrow  island 
known  as  *  the  isle  of  the  Three  Kings,'  doubtless 
from  some  one  of  the  many  meetings  held  in  this 
district  by  Louis  vii.  or  PhiHp  Augustus  and  the  two 
Henrys.  The  river  itself  was  barred  by  a  double 
stockade,  crossing  its  bed  from  shore  to  shore." 

One  can  imagine  how  the  building  of  this  mighty 
fortress  must  have  been  the  talk  of  the  whole 
countryside — how  Richard's  followers  deified  him 
more  and  more,  and  how  his  enemies  lost  courage  and 
began  to  regard  him  as  invincible.  He  had  the  gift 
of  turning  the  most  apparently  untoward  circum- 
stances to  advantage,  of  snatching  success  out  of 
defeat,  as  is  shown  by  his  brilhant  victory  with  a 
handful  of  men  against  overwhelming  odds  at  Acre, 
and  the  use  he  made  of  his  imprisonment  in  Germany 
to  form  an  alliance  with  the  perfidious  Emperor, 
which  was  of  great  value  to  him  later.  So  now 
the  attacks  of  Philip  on  his  domains  had  brought 
about  that  which  was  to  crown  his  renown,  showing 
him  not  alone  as  an  intrepid  soldier  and  beau-ideal 
of  chivalry,  foremost  in  every  fight,  but  as  a  far- 
seeing  military  genius  who  had  made  use  of  the 


\^ .  t» 


chAtp:.\u  gailt.ari)  from  the  seine,  after  turner's 

drawinc..-  5<v  /.  298. 


il 


BUILDING  OF  CHATEAU  GAILLARD     241 

opportunities  he  had  had  to  study  the  art  of  fortifica- 
tion during  his  Palestine  campaign  and  utiUsed  them 
for  the  protection  of  his  native  land. 

"As  strong  as  Chateau  Gaillard''  passed  into 
a  proverb  in  France,  and  Richard's  "  saucy  castle  " 
took  its  place  among  the  most  famous  buildings  of 
Europe,  to  stand  for  an  ideal  of  majestic  beauty 
ages  after  it  ceased  to  be  of  practical  utihty,  and  be 
jmmortaHsed  by  the  greatest  of  landscape  painters 
in  drawings  that,  as  masterpieces  of  art,  perpetuate 
its  fame  for  future  generations.  The  schoolboyish 
side  of  the  King's  complex  character  was  uppermost 
when  he  saw  his  darhng  dream  realised  and  the  last 
stone  placed  on  the  lofty  pile. 

"See  how  beautiful  she  is,  my  child  of  one  year 
old  !  "  he  cried  gaily  to  the  barons  he  had  sum- 
moned to  celebrate  the  first  birthday  of  Chateau 
Gaillard. 

The  "  rain  of  blood ''  told  of  by  old  chroniclers, 
and  which  fell,  by  the  way,  not  only  at  Les  Andelys, 
but    throughout    Aquitaine,    which    had    carried 
terror  to  the  hearts  of  the  workmen,  was  quite  for- 
gotten—no vision  of  the  future— when  his  proud 
castle  should  be  taken  by  that  very  French  King 
it  was  built  to  withstand  and  a  French  flag  wave 
over  its  walls— troubled  Richard's  peace.    Fortune 
seemed  at  last  to  be  true  to  her  reputation  of  favour- 
ing the  brave,  when  the  treaty  with  Baldwin,  Count 
of  Flanders,  was  signed  within  the  walls  of  the  new 
castle,  and  this  powerful  adherent  of  the  French 
King  won  to  the  coalition  of  princes  that  Coeur  de 
Lion  was  gradually  forming  around  him.    Richard 
must  have  smiled  to  remember  how  Philip  had 
rushed  home  from  the  Crusade  on  the  death  of 


I 


]• 


242 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


M 

>| 
111, 

i 


Baldwin's  predecessor  in  haste  to  secure  Flanders, 
which  was  now  his  own  ally. 

Baldwin,  Count  of  Flanders,  now  took  the  field 
against  the  King  of  France,  having  his  own  accounts 
to  settle  with  him  for  the  loss  of  Artois  and  Peronne 
some  years  before.  Determined  to  regain  this  terri- 
tory, he  besieged  and  took  Douai  and  then  laid  siege 
to  Arras.  PhiUp  rushed  to  the  rescue,  and  Baldwin 
retreated.  The  retreat,  however,  was  merely  a 
strategical  move  to  draw  Phihp  on  and  then  break 
the  bridges  behind  so  as  to  cut  off  supplies.  The 
tactics  obliged  the  French  King  to  come  to  terms, 
and  Baldwin  made  it  a  condition  that  Philip  should 
also  treat  for  peace  with  the  King  of  England,  which 
led  to  a  meeting  between  Philip  and  Richard  and 
the  verbal  arrangement  of  another  truce  on  13th 
January  1199. 

The  meeting  was  held  on  the  banks  of  the  Seine 
between  Andelys  and  the  fortress  of  Vernon. 
Richard,  who  had  come  by  boat  from  Chateau 
Gaillard,  it  is  said,  refused  to  land ;  as  to  whether 
this  was  simply  a  piece  of  arrogance  on  his  part, 
or  whether  he  had  any  reason  to  doubt  Philip's 
good  faith,  the  historians  of  the  day  do  not  tell  us — 
they  merely  relate  the  facts  that  the  two  Kings 
talked  together,  one  on  horseback  and  the  other  in 
a  boat,  and  that  the  treaty  was  not  formally  sealed 
and  hostages  exchanged,  the  reason  given  by  some 
chroniclers  being  that  PhiUp  objected  to  Baldwin 
of  Flanders  being  included  in  the  peace.  It  may  be 
the  Kings  only  met  at  all  at  the  instance  of  others — 
the  Pope's  legate  had  just  arrived  upon  the  scene  with 
instructions  from  Innocent  iii.  to  mediate  between 
the  Kings  of  England  and  France,  and  thus  put  an 


TREASURE-TROVE  AT  CHALUZ         243 

end  to  the  devastating  war— and  both  were  glad 
to  go  through  the  form  of  a  meeting  without  binding 
themselves  to  anything.  Philip  almost  immediately 
broke  his  word  by  seizing  an  island  in  the  Seine  and 
begmnmg  to  fortify  it,  and  had  not  the  Legate 
threatened  the  penalties  of  the  Church  if  he  did  not 
desist,  war  would  have  broken  out  afresh,  but  priestly 
authority  prevailed  on  PhiUp,  not  alone  to  demohsh 
his  work,  but  to  make  a  most  favourable  offer  to 
Richard,  which  settled  the  question  of  the  ownership 
of  Gisors,  the  rock  on  which  other  treaties  had  spht. 

This  problem  should  be  solved,  Philip  proposed 
as  many  another  had  been,  by  a  marriage— Richard 
to  give  the  hand  of  his  niece,  Blanche  of  CastiUe,  to 
Philip's  son  Louis,  and  Gisors  to  be  her  marriage 
dowry.  Subject  to  Richard's  consent  to  this  arrange- 
ment, Philip  would  restore  all  his  other  conquests 
in  Normandy  to  the  Enghsh  Crown. 

Richard  virtually  assented,  but  news  of  the 
finding  of  treasure-trove  near  Chaluz  arrived  at 
that  moment,  and,  seeing  a  chance  of  replenishing 
his  empty  coffers  by  exercising  his  sovereign  rights 
without  delay,  he  dashed  off  to  the  Limousin,  leaving 
the  unsigned  treaty  to  await  his  return. 

He  went  to  his  death,  and  the  treaty  was  never 
signed  ! 

The  story  which  had  taken  Richard  post-haste 
to  Chaluz  was  that  a  vassal  of  Adamar  of  Limoges 
by  name  Achard,  lord  of  Chaluz,  had  in  his  possession 
a  golden  group  of  figures  representing  an  Emperor, 
his  wife,  his  sons  and  daughters  seated  at  a  table,' 
and  round  the  table  an  inscription  declaring  the 
names^  of  the  parties  and  the  times  in  which  they 
lived."    It  was  said  to  have  been  discovered  by  a 


III 


t'l'  t' 


244 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


SIEGE  OF  CHALUZ 


245 


peasant  in  ploughing  the  land,  and,  if  the  story  were 
true,  it  has  been  suggested  that  it  may  have  been  a 
real  relic  of  some  of  the  old  Gothic  kings  of  Aquitania, 
though  Achard  never  admitted  he  had  found  any- 
thing more  valuable  than  a  vessel  full  of  coins.  The 
pursuit  of  gold  in  all  ages  has  brought  out  men's 
worst  passions,  whether  they  delved  for  it  in  the 
ground  or  schemed  to  wrest  it  from  others  in  the 
marts  of  the  world,  and  certainly  this  tale  of  treasure- 
trove  seems  to  have  affected  Kichard  with  a  tem- 
porary madness. 

He  had  done  savage  deeds,  it  is  true,  in  the  Holy 
Land,  but  then  it  was  at  least  an  ideal  that  inspired 
him,  even  though  it  caused  fanaticism  to  run  riot. 
He  fought  in  the  Holy  War,  not  for  himself  alone, 
but  for  Christendom;  in  the  siege  of  Chaluz  his 
most  favourable  critics  must  admit  greed  of  gold 
was  his  sole  motive,  and  its  demoraUsing  effect  is 
shown  in  all  his  actions.  Though  offered  a  share 
in  the  treasure  by  Adamar,  who  in  his  turn  had 
wrung  it  from  Achard,  Richard  declared  he  would 
have  all  or  nothing.  In  his  mad  fury  he  squandered 
money  in  laying  waste  the  Limousin  with  fire  and 
sword  (and  that  in  the  holy  season  of  Lent,  in  which 
the  Church  of  the  Middle  Ages  enjoined  peace)  for  a 
problematic  gain  of  a  little  wealth,  which  might  not 
be  worth  more  than  he  spent  in  fighting  for  it. 

Achard  and  Adamar,  who  had  together  fortified 
the  castle  of  Chaluz  and  prepared  to  defend  it, 
decided  on  Richard's  approach  to  offer  to  submit 
the  dispute  to  the  French  King's  court  "  as  superior 
alike  over  the  Duke  of  Aquitaine  and  over  his 
vassals.''  Richard  refused  to  Usten ;  they  asked  in 
vain  for  a  truce  "  till  the  holy  season  of  Lent  should 


be  past."  Richard  went  on  remorselessly  battering 
the  walls  till  they  were  almost  destroyed  and  the 
keep  partially  undermined — ^then  the  defenders 
begged  leave  to  surrender  with  all  the  honours  of 
war :  but  the  traditional  devil  spirit  of  his  race  had 
taken  possession  of  Richard,  and  the  generosity  to 
a  fallen  foe,  which  was  the  pride  of  chivalry,  was 
merged  in  ruthless  lust  of  war  and  cruelty.  He 
swore  he  would  hang  all  the  garrison,  as  once  before 
he  had  returned  a  similar  answer  to  a  similar  plea 

for  mercy. 

Achard,  with  but  six  knights  and  nine  serving 
men,  retired  to  the  keep,  prepared  to  die  a  soldier's 
death  rather  than  a  felon's.  Short  even  of  ammuni- 
tion, the  defenders  threw  down  beams  of  wood  and 
fragments  of  the  battlements  at  the  heads  of  the  men 
who  were  undermining  the  tower,  the  while  defending 
themselves  as  best  they  might  against  the  crossbow 
bolts  that  whistled  round  them.  One  among  them 
there  was  whose  heart  burned  more  fiercely  against 
the  King  than  any  other,  who  had  been  rendered 
fatherless  and  brotherless  by  Richard's  own  hand; 
thirsting  for  vengeance,  he  had  eyes  for  the  King 
alone.  "  Oh,  for  an  arrow  !  "  he  must  have  sighed, 
as  he  saw  Richard— unarmed  save  for  his  iron  head- 
piece—pass within  bow-shot— but  his  arrows  were 
all  spent!  His  only  weapon  was  a  frying-pan 
which  he  had  pressed  into  service  as  a  shield,  and, 
holding  it  aloft  as  proudly  as  a  more  honourable 
weapon,  he  waited  for  the  end.  Just  then  an  arrow 
aimed  at  the  defenders— some  say  by  Richard's  own 
hand — lodged  in  the  wall  within  reach.  In  a 
moment  this  man  had  dislodged  it,  fitted  it  to  his 
own  crossbow,  and  it  was  speeding  back  on  its  death- 


246 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


i 


dealing  way  towards  the  King,  who  still  stood  calmly 
surveying  his  work. 

It  struck  him  on  his  left  shoulder  just  below  the 
joint  of  the  neck  and  penetrated  under  the  shoulder- 
blade,  yet  Eichard,  making  light  of  the  wound  in 
the  face  of  his  followers  and  of  the  foe  who  had 
struck  him  and  watched  the  scene  with  eager  eyes, 
rode  back  to  the  camp  as  if  unhurt,  giving  strict 
orders  to  his  lieutenant,  Mercadier,  who  had  fought 
by  his  side  in  all  his  wars— first  in  his  boyhood  in 
Gaul,  then  in  Palestine,  and  then  in  Gaul  again — 
to   press   the   assault   yet   more  vigorously.    Con- 
temporary writers  differ,  as  to  whether  the  fatal 
results  were  due  to  the  King's  rashness  in  trying 
to  pull  out  the  arrow  himself— an  action  quite  in 
keeping  with  the  impetuosity  of  his  character  and 
his  contempt  of  suffering— or  whether  the  end  was 
due  to  the  bungling  surgery,  which  is  the  view  taken 
by  the  English  writers,  Rog.  Howden  and  R.  Cogges- 
hall,  who  blame  the  French  doctor.    In  any  case, 
the  wooden  shaft  of  the  arrow  was  broken  off  in  the 
attempt  to  extricate  it,  and  the  barb  remained 
buried  in  the  flesh,  causing  an  agonising  operation 
to  cut  it  out,  which  suffering  the  dying  King  under- 
went in  vain,  for  mortification  set  in  and  proclaimed 
the  end  was  near. 

Stern  justice  had  speedily  avenged  Richard's 
unworthy  action  in  refusing  mercy  to  the  defenders 
of  Chaluz,  and  there  is  little  doubt  he  realised  this 
and  with  real  repentance  bowed  to  the  Divine  decree. 

Face  to  face  with  death,  he  sent  for  his  mother 
from  Fontevrault  where  he  was  so  soon  to  rest,  and 
Eleanor,  broken  hearted,  hastened  to  the  bedside  of 
the  son  she  loved  so  well.    There  are  those  who  say 


Ml 


i 


DEATH  OF  THE  KING 


247 


that  Berengaria  never  left  him  after  their  reconcilia- 
tion in  1195,  and  unquestionably  was  with  him  when 
he  died,i  an(j  other  historians  who  assert  that  the 
Queen  was  neither  present  at  his  death-bed  nor  his 
funeral,  though  she  was  deeply  affected  by  the  news 
of  his  demise ;  ^  it  is  difficult  to  reconcile  such  con- 
flicting statements,  but  the  probabilities  are  that 
the  woman  who  loved  Richard  so  devotedly,  in  spite 
of  long  neglect,  hastened  to  his  sick-bed  as  soon  as 
the  news  reached  her,  though  she  may  have  shunned 
the  public  ordeal  of  being  present  at  the  funeral. 

In  spite  of  the  agonising  pain  he  was  suffering, 
Richard's  mind  was  clear,  and,  with  disregard  of  self 
and  anxiety  for  the  affairs  of  his  kingdom,  he  called 
together  the  barons,  making  them  swear  fealty  to  his 
brother  John,  who  had  so  often  betrayed  him,  but 
whom  he  had  acknowledged  as  his  heir.  When  he 
gave  commands  that  three-quarters  of  his  treasures 
and  jewels  should  be  given  to  his  nephew.  King 
Otto,  and  the  other  quarter  divided  among  his 
servants  and  the  poor,  he  must  have  thought  bitterly 
of  that  other  treasure  he  had  lost  his  life  to  gain. 

As  the  King  was  sinking,  news  came  that  Chaluz 
was  taken  and  all  the  garrison  hung,  according  to  his 
oathbefore  hewasfatally  wounded,  except  themanwho 
had  slain  him  and  who  was  reserved  for  a  worse  fate. 

Richard  sent  for  his  slayer,  who  came  defiantly, 
expecting  death  and  ready  to  meet  it  bravely  in  any 
horrible  form  that  his  captors  might  devise. 

Face  to  face  once  more— the  slayer  and  the  slain 
—the  dying  King  asked  quietly,  "  What  have  I 
done  to  thee  that  thou  shouldest  slay  me  ?  "  As 
cahnly  the  prisoner  answered,  in  words  that  justified 

1  Strickland,  p.  326.  *  Ramsay,  p.  366. 


mi!' 


ft 


r 


i»i 


248 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


his  deed  in  Richard's  eyes,  "Thou  hast  slain  my 
father  and  two  of  my  brothers  with  thine  own 
hand,  and  thou  wouldest  fain  have  killed  me  too. 
Avenge  thyself  upon  me  as  thou  wilt ;  I  will  gladly 
endure  the  greatest  torments  that  thou  canst  devise, 
since  I  have  seen  thee  on  thy  death-bed." 

All  Richard's  real  generosity  of  soul  rose  up  in 
those  last  moments  of  his  earthly  hfe,  and  the 
astonished  captive  heard,  with  ahnost  unbelieving 
ears,  three  words,  "  I  forgive  thee,"  fall  from  the 
dying  King's  hps,  adding  to  the  guards  a  command 
to  let  their  prisoner  go  with  a  gift  of  money. 

Thus  Richard  took  his  last  vengeance  and  made 
his  peace  with  God.  Not  his  fault  was  it  that  Mer- 
cadier  failed  to  carry  out  his  orders  and  flayed  ahve 
the  man  the  King  had  freely  forgiven. 

It  is  generally  beheved  that  Richard's  slayer 
was  Bertrand  de  Gourdon,  a  nobleman  of  the  Quercy, 
whose  ancestral  home,  the  castle  of  Gourdon,  was 
taken  by  the  King  in  his  Aquitainian  wars,  and  his 
father  and  brothers  slain. 

After  eleven  days  of  cruel  suffering,  on  6th  April, 
"  the  Tuesday  in  Passion  Week,"  Richard,  having 
set  his  worldly  affairs  in  order,  and  feehng  his  hours 
were  numbered,  sent  for  Abbot  Milo  to  hear  his  con- 
fession and  administer  the  Holy  Sacrament.  He 
then  gave  directions  that  his  body  was  to  be  laid, 
'*  in  token  of  penitence,  at  his  father's  feet  in  the 
Abbey  Church  of  Fontevraud,"  and  his  heart  to  be 
taken  to  Rouen,  "  where  it  had  ever  found  a  loyal 
response";  towards  evening  he  received  extreme 
unction,  and  so  ended  his  stormy  hfe,  sinking  to  rest 
as  the  sun  sank  to  its  setting— a  penitent  sinner  at 
peace  at  last. 


ft 


v*^ 


J 


O 

CO 

< 

I 

< 


^     I 


'A 
O 

< 

D 
O 


.s 


4  ■* 


I!:. 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


his  deed  in  Eichard's  eyes,  "  Thou  hast  slain  my 
father  and  two  of  my  brothers  with  thine  own 
hand,  and  thou  wouldest  fain  have  killed  me  too. 
Avenge  thyself  upon  me  as  thou  wilt ;  I  will  gladly 
endure  the  greatest  torments  that  thou  canst  devise, 
since  I  have  seen  thee  on  thy  death-bed/' 

All  Richard's  real  generosity  of  soul  rose  up  in 
those  last  moments  of  his  earthly  hfe,  and  the 
astonished  captive  heard,  with  almost  unbelieving 
ears,  three  words,  ''  I  forgive  thee,"  fall  from  the 
dymg  King's  Ups,  adding  to  the  guards  a  command 
to  let  their  prisoner  go  with  a  gift  of  money. 

Thus  Richard  took  his  last  vengeance  and  made 
his  peace  with  God.  Not  his  fault  was  it  that  Mer- 
cadier  failed  to  carry  out  his  orders  and  flayed  ahve 
the  man  the  King  had  freely  forgiven. 

It  is  generally  beheved  that  Richard's  slayer 
was  Bertrand  de  Gourdon,  a  nobleman  of  the  Quercy, 
whose  ancestral  home,  the  castle  of  Gourdon,  was 
taken  by  the  King  in  his  Aquitainian  wars,  and  his 
father  and  brothers  slain. 

After  eleven  days  of  cruel  suffering,  on  6th  April, 
"  the  Tuesday  in  Passion  Week,"  Richard,  having 
set  his  worldly  affairs  in  order,  and  feehng  his  hours 
were  numbered,  sent  for  Abbot  Milo  to  hear  his  con- 
fession and  administer  the  Holy  Sacrament.  He 
then  gave  directions  that  his  body  was  to  be  laid, 
"  in  token  of  penitence,  at  his  father's  feet  in  the 
Abbey  Church  of  Fontevraud,"  and  his  heart  to  be 
taken  to  Rouen,  *'  where  it  had  ever  found  a  loyal 
response  " ;  towards  evening  he  received  extreme 
unction,  and  so  ended  his  stormy  life,  sinking  to  rest 
as  the  sun  sank  to  its  setting— a  penitent  sinner  at 
peace  at  last. 


o 


u 

< 


y    3: 


o 


X 


Pi 
< 

H 

'^ 
O 


•s. 

5 


s 


Ittt 


11 


I 


BURIAL  AT  FONTEVRAUD 


251 


The  holy  St.  Hugh  of  Lincohi,  who  had  been 
estranged  from  the  King  because  duty  had  called  him 
to  withstand  Richard's  demands  for  money  from 
his  EngUsh  reahn,  to  carry  on  his  wars  abroad,  was 
on  his  way  to  see  the  King  on  matters  of  pohcy  when 
he  received  the  news  of  his  death,  and  hastened  to 
show  his  forgiveness  by  performing  the  last  rites  of 
the  Church  over  his  earthly  remains. 

So  another  Angevin  King  was  "  shrouded  among 
the  shrouded  women,''  his  own  mother,  doubtless,  in 
their  midst.  He  was  laid  to  sleep  in  the  robes  which 
he  had  worn  on  his  last  crowning  day  in  England, 
five  years  before.  His  heart  was  enclosed  in  a  gold 
and  silver  casket,  carried  to  Rouen,  and  solemnly 
deposited  by  the  clergy  among  the  holy  relics  in  their 
cathedral  church,  and  men  saw  in  its  unusual 
size  a  fit  token  of  the  mighty  spirit  of  him  whom 
Normandy  never  ceased  to  venerate  as  "  Richard 
Coeur  de  Lion."  Soul  stirring  and  infinitely  touch- 
ing must  have  been  the  scene  when,  one  summer 
day  of  1838,  a  few  who  loved  and  venerated  the 
memory  of  the  warrior  King,  who  passed  away  six 
centuries  before,  found  after  long  search  a  leaden 
box  contained  in  a  cavity  in  the  wall  and,  opening 
it,  read  on  the  silver  lining — 

Cor 
RiCHARDi  Regis  Anglic 

NORMANNI-ffi:  Ducis 

Cor  Leonis  Dicti 

Obht  Aniso 

MCXCIX 

by  which  they  knew  the  poor  shrivelled  thing  that 
lay  within  was  once  the  heart  that  beat  so  bravely 
in  the  breast  of  England's  "  lion-hearted  "  King. 


PART    II 


INTRODUCTION 


iii. 
f  w 


Mm  I 

'S'll  I 


To  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  one  of  your  lifelong 
heroes,  through  near  lands  linked  with  our  island 
story  and  far  lands  linked  with  the  story  of  the 
dayspring  of  Christianity,  is  a  privilege  to  which 
but  few  can  attain  in  the  body.  There  is  another 
sort  of  travelHng  very  much  in  vogue  to-day  which 
lies  open  to  all,  even  though  their  purse  be  not  a 
full  one-the  wandering  in  spirit  through  vineyards 
and  ohve  groves,  by  hoary  castles  and  venerable  cathe- 
dral fanes,  across  vast  oceans  and  burning  deserts 
where,  amid  waving  groups  of  palm  trees,  priests 
of  Islam  chant  the  call  to  prayer  from  slender  sky- 
piercing  minarets,  and  devout  pilgrims,  staff  in  hand 
and  singing  as  they  go,  still  traverse  the  well-worn  way 
that  leads  to  Jerusalem. 

It  has  been  said,  "  Happy  is  the  country  that 
has  no  history."  I  would  like  to  add,  "  Happy 
is  the  traveller  who  knows  his  history"  (and  for 
this  reason  I  have  knit  in  one  volurae  a  sketch 
of  the  Ufe-story  of  my  hero,  with  other  sketches 
of  the  scenes  of  his  Me).  Happy  is  he  in  what- 
soever  land  his  feet  may  tread — ^who  can  rest  at 
noon  in  the  shade  of  some  old  castle,  or  stand  upon 
its  battlements  and  look  out  across  the  country 


163 


,,.(  ,, 


H 
s  ; 


254 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


INTRODUCTION 


255 


l! 


its  defenders  must  have  scanned  with  eager  eye 
many  a  time  in  bygone  ages  to  discern  the  coming 
foe — and  dream  of  all  its  stirring  past — hearing  with 
spirit  ear  the*^  trumpet-call  and  clang  of  arms — 
the  moan  of  the  dying  and  the  shout  of  the  victor — 
or  in  some  now  ruined  abbey  the  roll  of  the  organ 
and  sweet  voices  of  the  singers,  and  the  clear  bell 
which  betokens  the  elevation  of  the  host  and  the 
adoration  of  the  dark-robed  monks. 

That  power  of  recalling  the  past  is  a  fairy  gift, 
which  those  who  are  endowed  with  it  may  hand 
on  to  fellow-mortals  whose  ears  are  less  open  to  spirit 
whisperings  ;  helping  them  to  inner  vision  just  as  the 
painter  does  who  sees  and  portrays  the  sunlight 
playing  on  the  wall,  for  those  who  live  in  darkened 
rooms,  or  the  curve  of  the  breaking  billows  on  the 
shore  for  those  who  Hve  far  inland,  and  holds  both 
fast  for  ever  to  be  a  heritage  of  joy  to  future  genera- 
tions. 

With  the  end  and  aim  of  helping  those  whose  feet 
may  wander  through  that  fair  part  of  France  that 
was  once  the  heritage  of  the  Enghsh  Crown  and  the 
scene  in  which  the  greater  part  of  the  stirring  drama 
of  Coeur  de  Lion's  hfe  was  played,  I  want  to  guide 
my  readers  to  these  old-world  towns  to-day  as  well  as 
through  the  other  scenes  inseparably  connected  with 
the  memory  of  Richard  and  the  Third  Crusade — 
Sicily,  and  Cyprus,  the  Holy  Land,  and  the  shores  of 
the  Adriatic  and  banks  of  the  Danube  where  the  King 
wandered,  a  hunted  man,  and  was  held  captive  in  the 
dungeons  of  Diirrenstein,  and  the  old  German  cities 
which  were  the  scenes  of  his  most  unjust  trial. 

Few,  perhaps,  have  such  a  whole-hearted  interest 
in  Richard  as  to  prompt  them  to  actually  follow  in  his 


footsteps  far  across  the  world — as  I  have  done — ^in  the 
course  of  one  journey ;  though  such  a  tour  combines 
much  of  what  is  best  seeing  in  Europe  with  the 
land  that  must  ever  be  paramount  in  interest  to  Bible 
students.  But  many,  I  hope,  will  find  added  interest 
in  Normandy  or  Touraine,  in  the  Troubadour  land 
of  Provence  or  the  castled  banks  of  the  Danube,  from 
recalling  Richard's  history,  and  some,  finding  them- 
selves in  Palestine,  may  care  to  traverse  the  long 
line  of  sea-coast  from  Acre  to  Ascalon,  where  every 
hill  and  valley  and  stretch  of  sand  is  full  of  memories, 
at  once  glorious  and  disastrous,  of  the  Third  Crusade. 
Yet  those  who  visit  these  lands  in  the  happy 
dreamland  called  imagination,  helped,  I  hope,  by  my 
little  book,  are  after  all  perhaps  the  most  to  be  envied, 
for  they  pick  the  flowers  of  travel  without  the  thorns 
— and  can  come  and  go  at  will  from  their  own 
fireside  to  "  lands  of  art  and  holy  writ,''  without 
counting  the  cost  or  encountering  the  weariness 
that  comes  sometimes  to  even  the  most  enthusiastic 
of  travellers. 


y 


fi 


I 


i "" 


CHAPTEE    I 

PROM  NORMANDY  TO  AQUITAINE  TO-DAY 

The  tide  of  commerce  has  retreated  from  Barfleur, 
leaving  the  chief  Norman  port  of  the  Middle  Ages  high 
and  dry  on  the  sands  of  time  to  dwindle  to  Uttle 
more  than  a  fishing  village— too  unimportant  in  the 
present  scheme  of  things  to  be  adjudged  worthy  of  a 
railway,  and  linked  only  with  the  outside  world 
by  a  pubhc  vehicle  which  phes  twice  daily  between 
sleepy  Barfleur  and  busy,  but  modern  and  unin- 
teresting, Cherbourg  (which,  by  the  way,  is  French 
for  Scarboro,  both  meaning  Caesar's  Castle).  Yet 
Barfleur  is  a  place  of  many  memories,  but  most  of 
all  is  it  haunted  by  the  tragic  story  of  the  White 
Ship  in  which  Prince  William,  the  only  son  of 
Henry  i.,  went  down  with  one  hundred  and  forty 
of  his  boon  companions — ^gay,  roystering  young 
gallants  who  had  feasted  on  the  eve  of  their  de- 
parture, "  not  wisely,  but  too  well/'  Outside  the 
harbour  are  cruel  reefs  all  the  way  to  St.  Vaast, 
on  one  of  which  the  ship  struck  that  fatal  day; 
as  we  recall  the  scene  we  remember  that  sad  story 
of  the  bringing  of  the  news  to  the  broken-hearted 
father,  of  whom  it  is  recorded  that  "  he  never  smiled 
again.*' 

But  it  is  to  follow  the  fortunes  of  a  later  King 


2^ 


W 


FROM  NORMANDY  TO  AQUITAINE  TO-DAY    257 

we  have  come  to  Normandy.  To  Barfleur  in  1194 
came  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion  after  his  long  captivity 
in  Germany.  Here  he  received  the  news  that  the 
Emperor  was  planning  his  recapture — from  here 
he  sailed  for  Sandwich,  and  all  through  the  years 
of  war  with  Philip,  messengers  were  coming  and 
going  from  the  English  court  to  Normandy,  the 
port  of  arrival  or  departure  being  Barfleur,  and 
troops  were  landed  here  and  arms  for  the  French 
wars.  The  coast  hereabouts,  like  that  of  our  own 
Cornwall,  is  rugged  and  indented,  and  there  is  need 
of  the  lighthouse  of  Gatleville  close  by  to  flash  a 
message  of  danger  to  mariners  across  the  water. 

It  is  only  for  its  memories  I  have  taken  you 
to  Barfleur— it  lives  in  the  past,  belonging  to  an  age 
when  stout  castle  walls  availed  to  keep  out  the  foe. 

We  are  going  to  travel,  as  Richard  travelled  to 
Tours,  by  way  of  Verneuil,  when  after  his  recrowning 
at  Winchester  he  crossed  to  Gaul  to  punish  John's 
perfidy  and  win  back  his  dominions ;  but  it  is 
worth  while  to  make  a  detour  to  see  Lisieux — ^the 
Chester  of  France,  but  a  glorified  Chester— with  the 
spirit  of  the  Middle  Ages  still  brooding  over  it,  full 
of  ancient  houses,  many  dating  from  the  thirteenth 
century,  that  recall  its  palmy  days,  and  with  the 
earliest  Gothic  cathedral  in  France  immortahsed 
by  Ruskin  in  the  Seven  Lamps  of  Architecture. 
Lisieux,  though  connected  with  no  prominent  event 
in  Richard's  life,  links  on  to  his  story,  for  it  was 
in  this  cathedral  his  royal  parents,  Henry  ii.  of 
England  and  Eleanor  of  Aquitaine,  pUghted  their 
wedded  troth  in  1154,  and  the  building  then  un- 
finished was  continued  in  his  reign—"  the|western 
towers,  nave,  and  all  eastward  as  far  as  the  apse  " 


258 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


being  built  between   1143   and   1182  and  a    fine 
example    of    church    architecture    of    the    period. 
From  a  beautiful  pubMc  garden  near  by  (once  the 
gardens  of  the  episcopal  palace)  is  a  glorious  view 
over  the  surrounding  well-watered,  smiHng  country, 
every  mile  of  which  is  full  of  memories  of  the Angevins. 
Somewhere  along  the  road  to  Verneuil  the  craven 
John,  fearing   his    brother's   vengeance,   met   him 
with  protestations  of  penitence  after  the  slaughter 
of  the  garrison  of  Evreux,  of  which  place  Phihp 
had  made  him  governor.    There  is  a  ghastly  story 
about  Evreux  which  I  have  not  mentioned  in  my 
historical    sketch    of    Eichard's    wars,    because    it 
cannot  be  authenticated,  but  travellers  must  Imow 
the  gossip  of  the  countryside,  so  here  it  is !    John, 
according  to  the  story,  thinking  to  curry  favour 
with  the  brother  he  had  betrayed,  by  betraying 
in  turn  his  allies,  the  French,  as  Commandant  of  the 
garrison,  invited  all  the  French  officers  to  a  banquet, 
to  which  they  came  unsuspectingly  and  fell  into 
a  trap,  for  their  host  had  arranged  for  Norman  troops 
to  massacre  them.    No  deed  was  too  black  for 
John  to  be  capable  of,  but  it  is  hard  to  believe  that 
Richard  would  have  approved  such  treachery  had 
he  known  of  his  brother's  act,  and  Uke  many  another 
story  it  is  likely  enough  to  be  the  invention  of  a 
fertile  brain  enlarging  on  the  fact  of  the  surprise 
and  slaughter  of  the  garrison  of  Evreux. 

Part  of  the  old  fortifications  of  Verneuil  which 
exist  to-day, including  the  lofty donjon,may  have  been 
the  walls  built  by  Henry  i.  and  rebuilt  by  Richard 
after  Phihp's  siege,  and  several  of  the  churches  are 
partially  of  his  date  or  earher,  of  which  the  church 
of  the  Madelaine  is  most  notable,  so  that  they  must 


vO 

o 


Pi 
U 
< 

< 
O 


fa 
O 

H 
K 

O 


X 
H 

fa 
O 

X 
u 

:d 

u 

o 

1— < 

< 

(A 

:d 

u 

a 
X 


i4 


.8 


258 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


being  built  between   1143   and   1182  and  a    fine 
example    of    church    architecture    of    the    period. 
From  a  beautiful  pubHc  garden  near  by  (once  the 
gardens  of  the  episcopal  palace)  is  a  glorious  view 
over  the  surrounding  well-watered,  smihng  country, 
every  mile  of  which  is  full  of  memories  of  the  Angevins. 
Somewhere  along  the  road  to  Verneuil  the  craven 
John,   fearing   his    brother's   vengeance,   met   him 
with  protestations  of  penitence  after  the  slaughter 
of  the  garrison  of  Evreux,  of  which  place  Phihp 
had  made  him  governor.    There  is  a  ghastly  story 
about  Evreux  which  I  have  not  mentioned  in  my 
historical    sketch    of    Richard's    wars,    because    it 
cannot  be  authenticated,  but  travellers  must  know 
the  gossip  of  the  countryside,  so  here  it  is  !    John, 
according  to  the  story,  thinking  to  curry  favour 
with  the  brother  he  had  betrayed,   by  betraying 
in  turn  his  alhes,  the  French,  as  Commandant  of  the 
garrison,  invited  all  the  French  officers  to  a  banquet, 
to  which  they  came  unsuspectingly  and  fell  into 
a  trap,  for  their  host  had  arranged  for  Norman  troops 
to  massacre  them.    No  deed  was  too  black  for 
John  to  be  capable  of,  but  it  is  hard  to  beheve  that 
Richard  would  have  approved  such  treachery  had 
he  known  of  his  brother's  act,  and  Mke  many  another 
story  it  is  Ukely  enough  to  be  the  invention  of  a 
fertile  brain  enlarging  on  the  fact  of  the  surprise 
and  slaughter  of  the  garrison  of  Evreux. 

Part  of  the  old  fortifications  of  Verneuil  which 
exist  to-day,  including  the  lofty  donjon,  may  have  been 
the  walls  built  by  Henry  i.  and  rebuilt  by  Richard 
after  Phihp's  siege,  and  several  of  the  churches  are 
partially  of  his  date  or  earUer,  of  which  the  church 
of  the  Madelaine  is  most  notable,  so  that  they  must 


o 
o 


o     ^ 


H 
c/j 

O 

r-i 

X 


z 

u 


X 

u 

J/ 

§ 

u 


f. 

X 


.?« 


FROM  NORMANDY  TO  AQUITAINE  TO-DAY    261 

have  survived  the  siege.  Present-day  Verneuil  has 
been  called  "  one  of  the  most  interesting  towns  in 
Eure  ''  by  an  authority  on  this  part  of  France. 

Leaving  Evreux,  Gisor,  and  Vernon,  all  in  this 
district,  for  the  return  journey  to  Rouen,  we  will 
push  on,  as  Richard  did,  to  Tours— that  most  charm- 
ing of  towns,  "  the  very  heart  of  Touraine,''  in  the 
beautiful,  historical,  romantic  valley  of  the  Loire, 
described  in  Old  Touraine  in  a  pen-picture  which 
has  a  special  interest  for  us  who  come  here  following 
in  Coeur  de  Lion's  footsteps. 

"  The  Plantagenets  have  hved  and  died  here, 
the  Black  Prince  has  fought  up  and  down  the  river,' 
Sir  Walter  Raleigh  served  his  first  campaign  here 
with  the  Protestants— even  King  Arthur  has  been 
heard  of  at  Amboise.  Here  are  scenes  that  Turner 
has  painted,  where  Landor  and  Wordsworth  have 
watched  the  setting  sun ;  here  in  the  heart  of  France, 
in  the  most  French  of  all  her  provinces,  there  seems 
a  special  interest  for  the  Englishman,  a  special  beauty 
m  this  royal  river  flowing  past  Pontevraud  to  the 
sea,  in  this  broad,  smiling  landscape  clad  with 
vines.'' 

"  Flowing  past  Fontevraud  to  the  sea  "—those 
words  set  us  dreaming  of  that  St.  Denys  of  the 
Plantagenets  we  are  soon  to  visit— but  not  yet! 
Tours  is  too  charming  to  be  hurried  through- 
it  combines  in  the  happiest  way  the  charms  of  past 
and  present.  Balzac  has  thrown  the  glamour  of 
his  immortal  genius  round  it— if  you  have  time  it 
is  good  to  read  or  re-read  his  romances  on  the  spot. 

Modern  Tours  is  one  of  the  most  cheerful  of 
provincial  towns— the  French  spoken  here  is  the 
purest  in  France,  not  excepting  Paris,  which  accounts 


262 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


for  the  many  bright-faced  English  girls  you  meet 
in  your  walks.  They  are  here  to  learn  the  silvery 
tongue  of  "  la  belle  France  "  in  a  healthier  atmosphere 
than  that  of  the  French  capital,  and  in  a  centre 
of  culture  and  literary  Kfe.  The  library  of  Tours 
and  its  Archaeological  Society  are  famous  far 
beyond  the  borders  of  Touraine ;  moreover,  to  come 
down  to  more  mundane  things,  the  cookery  of 
Tours,  its  plums,  white  wines,  and  its  pleasant 
leisured  social  life  are  all  known  throughout  France, 
and  the  enjoyment  of  such  good  things  is  apt  to 
put  most  of  us  in  the  humour  to  enjoy  Tours'  old- 
world  buildings  and  associations,  as  well  as  the 
surrounding  country,  the  more. 

Paramount  in  interest  to  us  is  the  Norman  work 
of  the  cathedral  and  the  lower  part  of  the  two 
towers,  which  must  have  witnessed  that  never-to- 
be-forgotten  scene  of  the  vast  multitudes  that 
acclaimed  Coeur  de  Lion  as  he  came  out  of  the 
sacred  shrine  invested  with  all  the  stately  ritea 
of  "  Holy  Church  "  with  his  pilgrim's  staff  and  wallet, 
and  took  his  way  to  the  royal  castle  built  by  his 
father,  Henry  ii.,  a  few  years  previously.  Of  this 
only  the  round  tower,  called  the  Tour  de  Guise 
(because  it  was  the  prison  of  the  Due  de  Joinville, 
son  of  Henry,  Due  de  Guise,  after  his  father's 
murder),  is  now  to  be  seen.  Two  towers  are  all 
that  remain  of  the  once  stately  basiUca  of  St.  Martin, 
and  in  the  Middle  Ages  one  of  the  most  frequented 
places  of  pilgrimage  in  France.  The  abbey  attached 
to  it  was  that  from  which  Kichard  dismissed  the 
monks  (suspecting  the  monastery  to  be  a  hotbed 
of  treason  in  Touraine)  on  the  occasion  when  Tours 
repented  of  her  disloyalty  to  her  Duke  during  his 


FROM  NORMANDY  TO  AQUITAINE  TO-DAY    263 

captivity,  and  opened  her  gates  and  came  to  meet 
him  with  a  peace-offering. 

A  new  St.  Martin's  has  arisen  in  place  of  the  old, 
which  was  pillaged  by  the  Huguenots,  desecrated 
by  the  anarchists,  and  then  suffered  to  fall  into 
ruins.  Not  the  least  stirring  of  the  memories  of 
this  fair  city  are  those  connected  with  the  great 
Huguenot  rising  to  avenge  the  awful  slaughter  of 
Ambois,  in  which  venerated  shrines  were  thrown 
down  and  the  churches  and  abbeys  of  Tours  were 
sacked  by  the  Reformers. 

There  are  those  who  say  the  name  Huguenot 
was  first  appUed  here  to  the  followers  of  Hugon, 
who  preached  in  these  streets  of  Tours  at  night, 
but  this  is  beside  our  story,  and  Tours  has  so  many 
memories  I  must  not  yield  to  the  temptation  to 
linger  here  and  call  up  ghosts  from  the  past  which 
have  no  bearing  on  the  life-story  of  Coeur  de  Lion. 

There  is  one  commanding  ancient  tower,  though, 
I  would  have  you  notice,  both  for  its  own  interest 
and  because  it  marks  the  site  of  the  town  of  Chateau- 
neuf ,  in  the  twelfth  century  the  Fauburg  St.  Germaine 
of  Tours  (where,  historians  tell  us,  Richard  stayed 
at  the  time  he  received  the  subjection  and  peace- 
offering  of  the  city).  It  is  the  tower  of  Chariemagne 
and  a  memorial  of  the  death  of  his  queen  when  he 
was  visiting  this  city  more  than  eleven  hundred 
years  ago.  And  so  good-bye  to  this  city  of  the 
storied  past.  *' Tours  stands,  will  always  stand, 
with  its  feet  in  the  Loire,  Uke  a  pretty  maid  that 
bathes  in  the  water  and  plays  with  it.  .  .  .  For 
this  town  is  laughing,  jolly,  amorous,  fresh,  flowering, 
fragrant,  more  than  any  other  town  in  the  world, 
not  one  of  which  is  worthy  to  comb  the  tresses  of 


264 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


her  hair,  or  knot  her  girdle."    So  wrote  Balzac, 
but  he  was  her  lover— and  lovers  are  apt  to  be  a 

little  prejudiced !  ,     ,  m.- 

We  are  now  in  the  neighbourhood  of  thmon; 
you  may  take  it  before  going  on  to  Saumur  and 
Fontevraud  if  you  are  not  bound  to  the  railway. 
The  favourite  home  of  Henry  ii.,  where  Richard 
must  have  passed  much  of  his  boyhood,  overlooks 
the  quiet  waters  of  the  Vienne.  It  has  been  well 
said  by  one  who  knows  this  land  intimately,  and 
has  drawn  many  a  loving  pen-picture  of  its  beauties, 
"  The  interest  and  the  beauty  of  the  valley  converge 
at  Chinon,  the  most  unspoilt  of  the  towns  of  Touraine, 
the  most  fuU  of  character.  .  .  .  Better  than  at 
Loches,  better  far  than  at  Tours,  you  can  here  read 
story  written  in  stone."  ^ 

The  castle  of  the  Plantagenets,  which  is  three 
fortresses  in  one,  stretching  from  east  to  west  and 
crowning  the  hill  above  the  Uttle  town  which 
nestles  under  its  stout  walls  for  protection,  is  best 
seen  from  the  bridge.  It  is  a  very  wilderness  of 
towers  and  battlements,  giving  an  impression  of 
greater  antiquity  than  ahnost  any  other  ruin  m 
France,  as  well  as  of  gigantic  strength— but  it  is  the 
strength  of  a  giant  whose  mighty  Umbs  are  composed 
for  ever  in  eternal  repose,  and  the  spuit  of  the  men 
who  raised  it,  one  has  well  said,  passed  on  to  another 
castle,  nearer  home,  that  of  our  own  royal  Windsor. 

I  believe  that  for  sheer  picturesqueness  Chinon 
bears  the  pahn  over  all  the  other  towns  of  France ; 
whether  you  take  it  bit  by  bit— its  whitewashed  vine- 
clad  cottages,  or  the  more  stately  dwellings  of  the 
burghers  with  carved  wooden  doorways  and  old 

1  Touraine  and  its  Story,  by  A.  Maodonald. 


FROM  NORMANDY  TO  AQUITAINE  TO-DAY    265 

wrought-ironwork — orstand  upon  its  castle  height  and 
look  down  to  the  grey  little  town  by  the  shining  river, 
— which  glides  onwards  towards  the  bridge  through 
greenest  of  meadows  suggestive  of  the  Norfolk  Broad- 
land, — or  gaze  upward  from  afar  at  its  stately  pile 
of  antique  walls  and  frowning  donjon  which  seem 
a  part  of  the  mighty  rock  on  which  it  is  reared — it  is 
altogether  beautiful !  Its  memories  of  poor,  dying, 
broken-hearted  Henry  ii.,  turning  his  face  to  the 
wall  when  he  heard  that  the  name  of  his  best-loved 
son  headed  the  list  of  traitors— and  of  Jeanne  d'Arc 
who  came  thither  on  her  sacred  mission  and  had 
audience  with  her  King  in  the  very  room  where, 
centuries  before,  Henry  ii.  breathed  his  last,  lend 
to  Chinon  a  peculiar  pathos  that  stirs  the  blood  ages 
after  those  who  played  their  part  in  its  dramas  have 
been  dust. 

On  the  bridge  on  which  we  stand  to  take  a  last 
farewell,  Richard  met  the  funeral  train  of  his  dead 
parent  on  its  way  to  the  Abbey  Church  of  Fontev- 
raud, dimly  visible  on  the  horizon,  fifteen  miles 
away  in  the  forest,  and  flung  himself  in  a  paroxysm 
of  bitter  repentance  upon  the  ground  before  that 
poor,  pathetic  corpse  so  strangely  crowned  with 
"  a  bit  of  gold  fringe  from  a  woman's  dress  "  in 
place  of  the  royal  crown  the  guardians  of  the 
treasury  had  refused  to  place  upon  his  brow  for 
the  last  time.  It  was  very  emblematic  of  the 
worthlessness  of  earthly  dignities  —  that  bit  of 
gold  fringe ! 

Local  tradition  says,  that  the  son  who  came  too 
late  to  speak  his  repentance  to  hving  ears,  himself  lay 
when  he  was  dead  at  Chinon  before  they  carried  him 
to  rest  at  his  father's  feet  at  Fontevraud— nay,  they 


266 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


FROM  NORMANDY  TO  AQUITAINE  TO-DAY    267 


even  show  you  the  house  in  the  Rue  de  Grand 
Carroi  in  which  they  say  he  died ;  but  that  does  not 
accord  with  history — if  Richard  came  at  all  to 
Chinon  on  his  last  journey  from  Chains  it  must 
have  been  dead,  not  Uving ! 

We  will  follow  him  then  to  his  last  resting-place, 
and  if  you  would  learn  more  of  Touraine  I  would 
have  you  go  by  road,  or  by  river,  but  not  by  rail, 
which  is  so  out  of  tune  with  the  spirit  of  pilgrimage 
— ^following  the  banks  of  the  Vienne  to  its  junction 
with  the  Loire.  The  road  runs  part  of  the  way 
between  wOlows,  through  rich  pastureland,  by 
villages  embosomed  in  plum  and  walnut  trees,  to 
Candes,  where  the  Vienne  empties  its  waters  into 
the  Loire. 

"  A  little  hoary  place  is  Candes,  consisting  of  one 
street,  a  great  church,  and  the  remains  of  a  castle,''  ^ 
and  the  great  church  and  its  story  are  so  remarkable, 
and  the  village  by  the  riverside  so  lovely,  that  it 
is  worth  while  to  linger  a  little  here,  if  you  can  spare 
the  time,  and  chmb  the  hill  to  look  down  upon  the 
Loire  with  its  tree-fringed  banks  and  islands.  The 
landscape  can  have  changed  hardly  at  all  since 
Henry  ii.'s  funeral  train  passed  this  way.  Many 
and  many  a  time  must  the  silence  of  the  valley 
have  echoed  to  the  martial  tread  of  armoured  men 
and  sound  of  trumpet-calls  when  Richard  resided  in 
the  castle  of  Chinon,  and  it  is  more  than  hkely  that, 
though  the  present  building  cannot  have  been  com- 
pleted in  his  time,  he  came  sometimes  to  pray  at  the 
shrine  of  St.  Martin,  in  whose  honour  a  church  was 
reared  over  the  cell  where  as  a  hermit  the  Saint  had 
lived  and  died  in  the  fourth  century.    The  legend 

^  T<mraine  and  Us  Story. 


->. 


says  that  when  St.  Martin  was  dying,  so  great  was 
his  reputation  for  sanctity  that  both  the  monks  of 
Poitiers  and  those  of  Tours  hastened  to  Candes 
to  be  ready  to  claim  his  body — ^the  former  on  the 
ground  that  he  had  grown  to  manhood  among  them 
as  a  pupil  of  St.  Hilary.  The  men  of  Tours  had 
not  so  good  a  claim,  but  they  had  sharper  wits. 
The  night  after  the  saint's  death,  while  their  brothers 
slept,  they  took  the  body  of  the  holy  man  out  of 
his  cell  and  carried  it  to  a  boat.  They  then  rowed 
it  all  the  way  to  Tours,  singing  hymns  of  triumph 
as  they  bent  at  their  oars ;  and  so  St.  Martin  was 
laid  to  rest  in  the  church  that  has  ever  since  borne 
his  name ;  but  over  the  cell  at  Candes  a  Httle 
church  was  reared,  which  after  eight  centuries  fell 
into  disrepair  and  was  replaced  by  the  present 
glorious  fane,  that  bursts  upon  the  astonished 
traveller,  and  startles  him  with  wonder  at  the  dis- 
proportion of  its  size  to  the  Kttle  village  at  its  feet. 

From  Candes  the  historic  road  to  Fontevraud 
goes  by  the  Chateau  of  Montressor,  with  its  memories 
of  the  robbers  who  took  toll  of  all  who  passed 
along  the  Loire,  and  here  turns  to  the  south  and 
ascends  gently  through  orchards  till  another  Httle 
grey  village  comes  in  sight,  and  the  towers  of  the 
Abbey  Church  of  Fontevraud— an  abbey  no  longer 
— how  are  the  mighty  fallen ! — but  turned  by  the 
practical  French  government,  that  has  no  sympathy 
with  the  sacredness  of  royal  and  religious  associa- 
tions— into  a  convict  prison !  The  effigies  of  the 
Plantagenet  kings  rest  in  the  prison  chapel. 

Yet  we  must  be  thankful  they  escaped  the 
havoc  of  the  Revolution  and  were  found  in  1816 
by   an   Englishman   whose   search   for   them  was 


266 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


even  show  you  the  house  in  the  Rue  de  Grand 
Carroi  in  which  they  say  he  died ;  but  that  does  not 
accord  with  history — if  Richard  came  at  all  to 
Chinon  on  his  last  journey  from  Chains  it  must 
have  been  dead,  not  living ! 

We  will  follow  him  then  to  his  last  resting-place, 
and  if  you  would  learn  more  of  Touraine  I  would 
have  you  go  by  road,  or  by  river,  but  not  by  rail, 
which  is  so  out  of  tune  with  the  spirit  of  pilgrimage 
— ^following  the  banks  of  the  Vienne  to  its  junction 
with  the  Loire.  The  road  runs  part  of  the  way 
between  willows,  through  rich  pastureland,  by 
villages  embosomed  in  plum  and  walnut  trees,  to 
Candes,  where  the  Vienne  empties  its  waters  into 
the  Loire. 

"  A  Uttle  hoary  place  is  Candes,  consisting  of  one 
street,  a  great  church,  and  the  remains  of  a  castle,"  ^ 
and  the  great  church  and  its  story  are  so  remarkable, 
and  the  village  by  the  riverside  so  lovely,  that  it 
is  worth  while  to  linger  a  Kttle  here,  if  you  can  spare 
the  time,  and  cUmb  the  hill  to  look  down  upon  the 
Loire  with  its  tree-fringed  banks  and  islands.  The 
landscape  can  have  changed  hardly  at  all  since 
Henry  ii.'s  funeral  train  passed  this  way.  Many 
and  many  a  time  must  the  silence  of  the  valley 
have  echoed  to  the  martial  tread  of  armoured  men 
and  sound  of  trumpet-calls  when  Richard  resided  in 
the  castle  of  Chinon,  and  it  is  more  than  Ukely  that, 
though  the  present  building  cannot  have  been  com- 
pleted in  his  time,  he  came  sometimes  to  pray  at  the 
shrine  of  St.  Martin,  in  whose  honour  a  church  was 
reared  over  the  cell  where  as  a  hermit  the  Saint  had 
lived  and  died  in  the  fourth  century.    The  legend 

^  Touraine  and  Us  Story. 


^^ 


FROM  NORMANDY  TO  AQUITAINE  TO-DAY    267 

says  that  when  St.  Martin  was  dying,  so  great  was 
his  reputation  for  sanctity  that  both  the  monks  of 
Poitiers  and  those  of  Tours  hastened  to  Candes 
to  be  ready  to  claim  his  body — the  former  on  the 
ground  that  he  had  grown  to  manhood  among  them 
as  a  pupil  of  St.  Hilary.  The  men  of  Tours  had 
not  so  good  a  claim,  but  they  had  sharper  wits. 
The  night  after  the  saint's  death,  while  their  brothers 
slept,  they  took  the  body  of  the  holy  man  out  of 
his  cell  and  carried  it  to  a  boat.  They  then  rowed 
it  all  the  way  to  Tours,  singing  hymns  of  triumph 
as  they  bent  at  their  oars ;  and  so  St.  Martin  was 
laid  to  rest  in  the  church  that  has  ever  since  borne 
his  name ;  but  over  the  cell  at  Candes  a  little 
church  was  reared,  which  after  eight  centuries  fell 
into  disrepair  and  was  replaced  by  the  present 
glorious  fane,  that  bursts  upon  the  astonished 
traveller,  and  startles  him  with  wonder  at  the  dis- 
proportion of  its  size  to  the  little  village  at  its  feet. 

From  Candes  the  historic  road  to  Pontevraud 
goes  by  the  Chateau  of  Montressor,  with  its  memories 
of  the  robbers  who  took  toll  of  all  who  passed 
along  the  Loire,  and  here  turns  to  the  south  and 
ascends  gently  through  orchards  till  another  httle 
grey  village  comes  in  sight,  and  the  towers  of  the 
Abbey  Church  of  Pontevraud — an  abbey  no  longer 
— how  are  the  mighty  fallen ! — ^but  turned  by  the 
practical  Prench  government,  that  has  no  s)rmpathy 
with  the  sacredness  of  royal  and  religious  associa- 
tions— into  a  convict  prison !  The  effigies  of  the 
Plantagenet  kings  rest  in  the  prison  chapel. 

Yet  we  must  be  thankful  they  escaped  the 
havoc  of  the  Revolution  and  were  found  in  1816 
by   an   Englishman   whose   search   for   them   was 


268 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


I 


doubly  a  labour  of  love,  both  on  account  of  his 
nationality  and  his  "  unrivalled  skill  in  this  particular 
branch  of  archaeology  "—the  late  Charles  Alfred 
Stothard— who,  being  at  work  on  his  Mmummtal 
Effigies  of  Great  Britain,  determined  to  search  for 
the  lost  Plantagenet  tombs  in  the  hope  of  including 
them  in  the  sketches  for  his  book. 

How  he  discovered  them  is  told  by  his  wife  in  her 
Letters  Written  During  a  Tour  in  Normandy  and 
Brittany,  and  dated  the  following  year.  She  says : 
"  He  found  the  Abbey  converted  into  a  prison,  and 
discovered  in  a  cellar  belonging  to  it  the  effigies  of 
Henry  the  Second  and  his  Queen,  Eleanor  of  Guienne, 
Richard  the  First,  and  Isabella  of  Angouleme,  the 
Queen  of  John.  The  chapel  where  the  figures  were 
placed  before  the  Revolution  had  been  entirely  de- 
stroyed ;  and  these  valuable  effigies,  then  removed  to 
the  cellar,  were  subject  to  continual  mutilation  by 
the  prisoners,  who  came  twice  in  every  day  to  draw 
water  from   a   well.  ...  It   appeared    they   had 

sustained  some  recent  injury,  as  Mr.  S found 

several  broken  fragments  scattered  around.  He 
made  drawings  of  the  figures,  and  upon  his  return 
to  England  represented  to  our  Government  the 
propriety  of  securing  such  interesting  memorials 
from  further  destruction.  It  was  deemed  advisable, 
if  such  a  plan  could  be  accompUshed,  to  gain 
possession  of  them,  that  they  might  be  placed  with 
the  rest  of  our  royal  effigies  in  Westminster  Abbey. 
The  EngUsh  Government  failed  in  this,  from  the 
affair  having  passed  through  too  poHtical  a  channel." 
Nevertheless,  attention  had  been  drawn  to  these 
neglected  memorials  of  two  of  our  greatest  Kings, 
and  the  result  was  that  three  years  later  they  were 


J- 


i' 


T 


4. 


vi-» 


CO 


< 

H 

M 
O 


> 

< 

Q 

> 

o 


O 

o 
< 


o 


Q 

Ed 

X 

H 

O 
< 


268 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


doubly  a  labour  of  love,  both  on  account  of  his 
nationality  and  his  "  unrivalled  skill  in  this  particular 
branch  of  archaeology  "—the  late  Charles  Alfred 
Stothard — who,  being  at  work  on  his  Monumental 
Effigies  of  Great  Britain,  determined  to  search  for 
the  lost  Plantagenet  tombs  in  the  hope  of  including 
them  in  the  sketches  for  his  book. 

How  he  discovered  them  is  told  by  his  wife  in  her 
Letters  Written  During  a  Tour  in  Normandy  and 
Brittany,  and  dated  the  following  year.  She  says : 
**  He  found  the  Abbey  converted  into  a  prison,  and 
discovered  in  a  cellar  belonging  to  it  the  effigies  of 
Henry  the  Second  and  his  Queen,  Eleanor  of  Guienne, 
Richard  the  First,  and  Isabella  of  Angouleme,  the 
Queen  of  John.  The  chapel  where  the  figures  were 
placed  before  the  Revolution  had  been  entirely  de- 
stroyed ;  and  these  valuable  effigies,  then  removed  to 
the  cellar,  were  subject  to  continual  mutilation  by 
the  prisoners,  who  came  twice  in  every  day  to  draw 
water   from    a   well.  ...  It    appeared    they   had 

sustained  some  recent  injury,  as  Mr.  S found 

several  broken  fragments  scattered  around.  He 
made  drawings  of  the  figures,  and  upon  his  return 
to  England  represented  to  our  Government  the 
propriety  of  securing  such  interesting  memorials 
from  further  destruction.  It  was  deemed  advisable, 
if  such  a  plan  could  be  accomphshed,  to  gain 
possession  of  them,  that  they  might  be  placed  with 
the  rest  of  our  royal  effigies  in  Westminster  Abbey. 
The  Enghsh  Government  failed  in  this,  from  the 
affair  having  passed  through  too  pohtical  a  channel." 
Nevertheless,  attention  had  been  drawn  to  these 
neglected  memorials  of  two  of  our  greatest  Kings, 
and  the  result  was  that  three  years  later  they  were 


I 


i 


< 

Pi 

c 


> 


A 


o 

2< 


o 


FROM  NORMANDY  TO  AQUITAINE  TO-DAY     271 


moved  into  the  Kttle  chapel  of  the  Abbey  Church 
where  they  now  rest. 

From  time  to  time  efforts  have  been  made  to 
carry  out  Mr.  Stothard's  suggestion  to  move  them 
to  Westminster,  and  the  Emperor  Napoleon  the 
Third  once  actually  offered  them  to  Queen  Victoria. 
But  he  had  promised  more  than  he  could  perform, 
for  French  archaeologists,  backed  by  the  gentry 
of  Anjou,  were  now  alive  to  the^-  value,  and 
"when  the  order  (for  their  removal)  came  down 
from  the  French  Secretary  of  State,  the  official 
whose  duty  it  was  to  deliver  them  up  refused  to 
do  so,"  and  Napoleon  was  placed  in  the  embarrassing 
position  of  having  to  ask  to  be  released  from  his 
promise— a  request  which,  of  course,  Queen  Victoria 
readily  granted-and  the  effigies  of  the  Angevins 
remained  in  the  place  they  had  themselves  selected 
for  their  sepulchre.  Why  they  chose  Fontevraud 
is  difficult  to  imagine  till  you  know  something  of 
the  story  of  these  prison  walls  that  were  once  a 
stately  abbey,  "  one  of  the  noblest  and  wealthiest 
of  the  reUgious  houses  of  the  West,"  and  its  con- 
nection with  the  house  of  Anjou.  Mrs.  Stothard 
has  told  its  history  in  detail,  and  as  her  book  is  now 
a  rare  one,  I  will  quote  what  she  says  of  it  in  full — 

"  The  celebrated  Abbey  of  Fontevraud  has  always 
been  considered  one  of  the  finest  religious  edifices  in 
France,  and  is  so  extensive  that,  viewed  at  a  distance, 
it  appears  like  a  Httle  town  of  Gothic  construction, 
embosomed  in  the  midst  of  fine  woods.  The  order 
that  was  first  founded  at  Fontevraud  existed  there 
from  the  eleventh  century  till  the  year  1793,  when 
it  was  subverted  by  the  Revolutionists,  who  drove 
the  inhabitants   from    their    sanctuary   and   both 


272 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


pillaged  and  dilapidated  the  convent.  During  that 
period  several  of  the  beautiful  Gothic  edifices  were 
entirely  demolished  and  others  left  in  a  ruined 
condition. 

"  As  Fontevraud  was  chosen  for  the  burial-place 
of  a  few  of  our  early  kings,  till  they  lost  the  pro- 
vinces of  Anjou  and  Maine  in  the  time  of  King 
John,  some  mention  of  the  first  foundation  of  the 
monastery,  which  will  account  for  the  vast  extent 
of  the  building,  must  be  interesting  to  you  here. 
This  celebrated  abbey,  where  all  the  supreme  power 
was  invested  in  the  person  of  a  female,  towards 
the    end    of    the    eleventh    century,    by    Robert 
d'Arbrissel,  a  Breton  priest,  and  so  famous  a  preacher 
in  his  time,  that  Pope  Urban  the  Second  commanded 
him,  wherever  he  went,  to  harangue  the  people  in 
favour  of  the  First  Crusade.    So  successful  proved 
the  eloquence  of  Robert,  that  many  persons,  from 
simply  hearing  his  orations,  left  their  famihes  and 
hastened  into  Palestine,  where  they  fought  under 
the  holy  banners  of  Godfrey  de  Bouillon ;   others, 
who   either   wanted   opportunity   or   resolution   to 
venture  the  personal  hazard  of  fighting  with  the 
infidels,  inspired  with  zeal  by  the  eloquence  of  the 
priest,  contributed  a  large  portion  of  their  substance 
in  support  of  the  sacred  war. 

**  Robert  likewise  wandered  about  the  country, 
preaching,  wherever  he  came,  a  contempt  of  this 
world,  and  the  merit  of  abandoning  all  earthly 
things,  in  order  to  devote  both  body  and  soul  to  the 
temporal  and  eternal  service  of  God.  So  forcibly 
did  his  arguments  and  vehement  orations  convince 
the  multitudes  who  listened  to  him  that  many 
hundreds  became  his  followers  and  disciples :  wives 


FROM  NORMANDY  TO  AQUITAINE  TO-DAY     273 

abandoned  their  husbands,  and  husbands  their 
wives ;  children  left  their  parents,  and  parents 
quitted  their  homes,  as  the  devoted  converts  of  the 
holy  wanderer.  Men  and  women,  both  of  bad  as 
well  as  good  repute,  composed  his  retinue,  which 
became  at  length  so  numerous  that  it  was  unmanage- 
able. Robert,  therefore,  determined  to  choose  some 
spot  where  he  might  form  his  multitude  into  a 
regular  order.  The  wild  forest  of  Fontevraud, 
watered  by  a  pure  fountain  that  issued  from  a  rock, 
was  selected  as  a  convenient  retreat  for  these  in- 
fatuated people.  The  little  colony  at  first  built 
themselves  huts  with  the  branches  of  trees  and  heaps 
of  turf,  as  a  shelter  from  the  weather,  or  during  the 
night.  Their  exertions  to  render  the  forest  habit- 
able were  soon  assisted  by  the  people  of  the  neigh- 
bouring country,  who  eagerly  afforded  both  susten- 
ance and  aid  to  the  holy  man  and  his  train.  A  lady 
named  Aramburge  gave  them  the  valley  in  which 
the  great  church  was  afterwards  erected  ;  the  lords 
of  Montreuil  and  Radegonde,  the  lands  of  Born 
and  the  forest  of  Fontevraud.  Kings,  princes,  and 
nobles  poured  in  their  wealth  to  assist  in  the  pious 
act  of  building  these  monasteries.  After  a  con- 
siderable time  necessarily  occupied  in  such  numerous 
erections,  the  multitude  were  formed  into  some 
degree  of  order.  Three  hundred  nuns,  selected  from 
the  most  reputable  and  best-educated  females,  were 
placed  in  the  convent  near  the  great  church,  which 
in  size  and  splendour  resembled  a  cathedral.  The 
others  were  divided  into  companies ;  each  included 
one  hundred  women.  Those  who  had  formerly  led 
abandoned  lives  were  placed  in  the  convent  dedi- 
cated to  St.  Madeleine,  and  called  femmes  repentees. 


272 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


pillaged  and  dilapidated  the  convent.  During  that 
period  several  of  the  beautiful  Gothic  edifices  were 
entirely  demolished  and  others  left  in  a  ruined 
condition. 

"  As  Fontevraud  was  chosen  for  the  burial-place 
of  a  few  of  our  eariy  kings,  till  they  lost  the  pro- 
vinces of  Anjou  and  Maine  in  the  time  of  King 
John,  some  mention  of  the  first  foundation  of  the 
monastery,  which  will  account  for  the  vast  extent 
of  the  building,  must  be  interesting  to  you  here. 
This  celebrated  abbey,  where  all  the  supreme  power 
was  invested  in  the  person  of  a  female,  towards 
the    end    of    the    eleventh    century,    by    Robert 
d'Arbrissel,  a  Breton  priest,  and  so  famous  a  preacher 
in  his  time,  that  Pope  Urban  the  Second  commanded 
him,  wherever  he  went,  to  harangue  the  people  in 
favour  of  the  First  Crusade.    So  successful  proved 
the  eloquence  of  Robert,  that  many  persons,  from 
simply  hearing  his  orations,  left  their  famihes  and 
hastened  into  Palestine,  where  they  fought  under 
the  holy  banners  of  Godfrey  de  Bouillon ;   others, 
who   either  wanted   opportunity   or  resolution   to 
venture  the  personal  hazard  of  fighting  with  the 
infidels,  inspired  with  zeal  by  the  eloquence  of  the 
priest,  contributed  a  large  portion  of  their  substance 
in  support  of  the  sacred  war. 

'*  Robert  likewise  wandered  about  the  country, 
preaching,  wherever  he  came,  a  contempt  of  this 
world,  and  the  merit  of  abandoning  all  earthly 
things,  in  order  to  devote  both  body  and  soul  to  the 
temporal  and  eternal  service  of  God.  So  forcibly 
did  his  arguments  and  vehement  orations  convince 
the  multitudes  who  listened  to  him  that  many 
hundreds  became  his  followers  and  disciples :  wives 


' 


i 


FROM  NORMANDY  TO  AQUITAINE  TO-DAY     273 

abandoned  their  husbands,  and  husbands  their 
wives ;  children  left  their  parents,  and  parents 
quitted  their  homes,  as  the  devoted  converts  of  the 
holy  wanderer.  Men  and  women,  both  of  bad  as 
well  as  good  repute,  composed  his  retinue,  which 
became  at  length  so  numerous  that  it  was  unmanage- 
able. Robert,  therefore,  determined  to  choose  some 
spot  where  he  might  form  his  multitude  into  a 
regular  order.  The  wild  forest  of  Fontevraud, 
watered  by  a  pure  fountain  that  issued  from  a  rock, 
was  selected  as  a  convenient  retreat  for  these  in- 
fatuated people.  The  little  colony  at  first  built 
themselves  huts  with  the  branches  of  trees  and  heaps 
of  turf,  as  a  shelter  from  the  weather,  or  during  the 
night.  Their  exertions  to  render  the  forest  habit- 
able were  soon  assisted  by  the  people  of  the  neigh- 
bouring country,  who  eagerly  afforded  both  susten- 
ance and  aid  to  the  holy  man  and  his  train.  A  lady 
named  Aramburge  gave  them  the  valley  in  which 
the  great  church  was  afterwards  erected  ;  the  lords 
of  Montreuil  and  Radegonde,  the  lands  of  Born 
and  the  forest  of  Fontevraud.  Kings,  princes,  and 
nobles  poured  in  their  wealth  to  assist  in  the  pious 
act  of  building  these  monasteries.  After  a  con- 
siderable time  necessarily  occupied  in  such  numerous 
erections,  the  multitude  were  formed  into  some 
degree  of  order.  Three  hundred  nuns,  selected  from 
the  most  reputable  and  best-educated  females,  were 
placed  in  the  convent  near  the  great  church,  which 
in  size  and  splendour  resembled  a  cathedral.  The 
others  were  divided  into  companies ;  each  included 
one  hundred  women.  Those  who  had  formerly  led 
abandoned  lives  were  placed  in  the  convent  dedi- 
cated to  St.  Madeleine,  and  called  femmes  repentees. 


274 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


The  sick  and  leprous  were  lodged  in  the  hospital  of 
St.  Lazare.  The  order  of  monks  who  were  devoted 
to  St.  John  inhabited  a  monastery  dedicated  to 
their  saint.  But  of  this  building  the  ruins  of  the 
church  now  alone  remain.  The  erection  of  the  nave 
of  the  great  church  is  attributed  to  "  Foulques,  fifth 
Count  of  Anjou/'  about  the  year  1125,  and  many 
other  parts  of  the  abbey  were  built  at  that  period. 

"Robert,  the  founder  of  this  numerous  order,  Uved 
to  see  it  extended  throughout  the  greater  part  of 
France.    Towards  the  end  of  his  career  he  gave  up 
the  authority  as  superior,  and  invested  it  in  the 
person   of   a  beautiful   lady  named  Petronille  de 
Chemille,  electing  her  Abbess  of  Fontevraud,  and 
submitted  both  himself  and  all  the  convents  to  her 
supremacy.    He  died  1117  a.d.,  and  was  interred 
near  the  altar  of  the  great  church.    His  effigy  of 
white  marble  was  afterwards  removed  beneath  a 
monument  dedicated  to  his  memory  by  Louis  de 
Bourbon,  Abbess  of  Fontevraud,  in  the  year  1623. 
The  modern  tomb  yet  remains,  but  whether  the 
Revolutionists  destroyed  the  effigy  or  not  when 
they  pillaged  the  monastery  is  uncertain;    it  no 
longer  exists. 

"It  is  remarkable  that  the  costume  of  these  monks 
and  nuns  never  altered  from  the  time  of  their  first 
establishment  in  the  eleventh  century  to  that  of 
their  aboUtion  in  1793.  They  were  clothed  by 
order  of  Robert  d'Arbrissel  according  to  the  pre- 
vailing dress  of  the  time :  the  men  wore  black, 
covered  by  a  long  mantle,  to  which  a  cowl  was 
attached,  and  at  the  bottom  of  the  garment,  both 
in  front  and  behind,  appeared  a  small  square  piece 
of  cloth,  which  bore  the  name  of  the  Robert ;   the 


FROM  NORMANDY  TO  AQUITAINE  TO-DAY     275 

nuns  were  attired  in  a  white  petticoat  of  fine  linen, 
with  lawn  sleeves  nicely  plaited  ;  a  black  stomacher 
and  belt  completed  the  gown ;  the  head  was  covered 
with  a  light  black  veil,  and  the  feet  by  white  stock- 
ings and  shoes ;  the  extreme  neatness  of  this  costume 
received  considerable  embellishment  from  the  full 
folds   of  the  long  and  elegant  black  mantle  that 
they  wore  during  Divine  service.    After  the  decease 
of  Robert,  the  superiors  of  the  order  were  generally 
chosen  from  women  of  the  first  rank;    fourteen 
princesses  are  numbered  amongst  the  abbesses  of 
Fontevraud ;    many  of  these  ladies  richly  endowed 
the  monastery  with  lands,  money,  pictures,  jewels, 
statues,  treasures,  and  additional  buildings.    Gab- 
rielle  de   Rochechouart  Mortemar,   celebrated  for 
her  profound  knowledge  of  the  Latin  and  Greek 
tongues,   and   for   her   extraordinary   endowinents 
both  natural  and  acquired,  was  also  a  distinguished 
abbess  and  patron  of  Fontevraud.    It  is  much  to 
be  regretted  that  the  revolution  has  spared  little 
else  than  the  walls  of  this  once  magnificent  retreat.'' 
It  was  at  Fontevraud  Richard's  favourite  sister 
Joan  received  her  education  —  to  Fontevraud  that 
Richard  went  to  ask  the  intercession  of  the  nuns  be- 
fore his  Crusade,  and  to  Fontevraud  he  came,  bringing 
sacred  relics  from  the  Holy  Land,  to  give  thanks  after 
his  release  from  captivity.    In  the  choir  of  the  Abbey 
Church,  too,  took  place,  if  contemporary  chroniclers 
are  to  be  believed,  that  terrible  scene  when  Richard 
saw,  or  thought  he  saw,  blood  oozing  from  the 
nostrils  of  the  corpse,  proclaiming  him  his  father's 
murderer — ^to   us   it   seems   that   to   John  rather 
than  to  Richard  that  odium  applies,  and  that  the 
excited  imagination  of  the  lookers  on  and  Richard's 


%ii 


276 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


own  conscience-stricken  heart  must  have  coniured 
up  the  blood. 

All  this  recurs  to  us,  as  we  gaze  through  the 
gnll  into  the  apse  of  a  small  chapel  opening  from 
the  south  transept,  where  four  strikingly  lifehke 
figures  lie  at  rest.  At  present  the  choir  and  transepts 
alone  are  used  as  a  chapel  for  the  prisoners,  and 
the  beautiful  nave  has  been  turned  to  secular  use.^ 

A  writer  who  visited  Fontevraud  before  the 
nuddle  of  the  last  century  ^  has  given  us  a  pen  pic- 
ture of  Richard's  effigy,  which  will  help  you  to  see  in 
It  more  than  our  own  eyes  might  at  once  discern— 
"It  is  impossible  that  any  poet's  description 
could  better  convey  to  the  mind  the  impression  of 
the  actual  appearance  of  Coeur  de  Lion  in  life  than 
tms  glorious  effigy. 

"  As  you  gaze  upon  it  an  involuntary  awe  creeps 
over  you,  and  the  frowning  brows  seem  to  contract 
still  more,  as  if  reproving  the  freedom  which  permits 
so  near  an  approach  to  a  monarch  so  powerful 
and  so  commanding.    His  forehead  is  the  grandest 
I  ever  beheld— broad,  open,  and  majestic— with 
straight  brows  knit  firmly  together,  sternly  and 
somewhat  fiercely;    the  upper  part  of  the  nose 
IS  finely  formed,  but,  alas!    the  rest  is  defaced 
yet,  strange  to  say,  the  countenance  is  not  disfigured' 
The  eyes  are  closed  and  appear  well  cut,  though 
not  very  large,  the  mouth  is  firm  and  handsome, 
the  chm  cloven  and  very  finely  rounded,  the  jaw 
powerful,  the  short,  curled  beard  and  hair  flowing 

.,.  VT''®  ^^^^  ChuKh  is  now  being  restored,  and  it  is  intended  tl,»t 
*  MiBs  Costello  in  The  Boeages  and  the  Vines. 


FROM  NORMANDY  TO  AQUITAINE  TO-DAY     277 

and  thick  and  the  moustache  fine,  the  shape  of  the 
head  good,  rather  broad  in  front,  the  throat  re- 
markably thick  and  strong,  and  the  breadth  of  the 
chest  prodigious.  One  hand  remains,  which  is  large 
and  powerful  and  admirably  sculptured."  This 
graphic  description  of  Kichard's  effigy,  written  over 
seventy  years  ago,  is  just  as  true  to-day,  except 
that  another  hand,  the  right  one,  clasping  the  sceptre, 
has  been  added  in  a  restoration  of  the  last  century. 
It  is  interesting  to  compare  Miss  Costello's  glowing 
words  with  the  comments  on  the  effigy  of  a  recent 
historian  of  the  Angevins,  who,  though  a  severe 
critic  of  Eichard  in  his  writings,  admits  that  in 
this  effigy,  which  is  generally  accepted  as  a  genuine 
likeness,  the  features  are  "  beautifully  refined/* 
From  what  different  points  of  view  two  people 
can  see  the  same  thing  —  of  the  forehead,  de- 
scribed by  Miss  Costello,  "  broad,  open,  and  majestic, 
with  straight  brows  knit  firmly  together,''  Sir 
James  Eamsey  found  "  smooth  and  rather  weak '' ! 
If  there  be  any  in  whom  my  narrative  has  stirred 
sufficient  interest  in  the  complex  character  of  this 
long-dead  King  to  wish  to  judge  for  themselves,  and 
yet  who  cannot  journey  to  Touraine,  let  them  study  the 
reproduction  of  the  original  in  the  Crystal  Palace  that 
is  so  excellently  done  and  so  strangely  httle  known. 
I  do  not  think  you  will  want  to  linger  at  Fontev- 
raud, the  atmosphere  of  a  prison  is  more  than  a 
little  depressing,  but  before  you  turn  your  back  on 
the  royal  effigies  look  at  that  of  the  mother  who 
was  so  great  an  influence  in  Richard's  Ufe — ^some 
authorities  hold  this  effigy  far  the  best,  though 
the  features  are  mutilated — ^nevertheless  the  noble 
head  gives  an  impression  of  strength  and  dignity 


278 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


such  as  one  would  expect  in  this  wonderful  woman, 
who,  brought  up  in  a  dissolute  court  and  surrounded 
by  flatterers,  made  a  stepping-stone  of  the  follies 
of  her  youth  to  rise  o'er  her  "dead  self  to  higher 
things,"  and  was  her  son's  right  hand  and  counsellor 
through  all  the  strange  vicissitudes  of  his  stormy 
life.  We  hope  that  after  life's  fitful  fever  "she 
sleeps  well,"  for  assuredly  her  long  and  faithful 
stewardship  and  her  many  sorrows  have  deserved  it. 

Queen  Berengaria's  efiigy  is  not  here— in  death  as 
for  so  long  in  hf e  she  was  parted  from  the  husband  she 
loved  so  well  and  yet  most  pathetically  often  failed 
to  please  !  How  human  they  become  to  us,  these  long 
dead-and-gone  royalties,  as  we  stand  beside  their 
sculptured  forms  and  muse  on  their  great  destinies — 
which  is  only  another  name  for  great  responsibilities 
— ^and  pitiable,  often  culpable,  weaknesses.  Almost 
we  seem  to  see  them  as  Tennyson  so  beautifully 
wrote  the  dead  see  us,  "  who  look  with  other  eyes 
than  ours  to  make  allowances  for  us  all." 

The  tombs  of  our  Angevin  kings  have  set  me 
dreaming  aloud  !  I  have  lingered  too  long  and  yet 
not  told  you  that  their  bodies  lie  here  no  longer, 
or,  if  they  do,  mingle  with  the  dust  maybe  of  the 
prison  yard.  Not  alone  the  Revolution,  not  even 
Huguenots  who  ravaged  Anjou  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  are  responsible  for  this,  but  the  strange 
vicissitudes  of  time  and  the  alterations  in  the 
church.  Whatever  remained  of  them  vanished  in 
the  wild  work  of  that  day  in  1793  when  the  mob, 
armed  with  cudgels,  axes,  and  whatever  weapons 
of  destruction  they  could  lay  their  hands  on,  wreaked 
their  vengeance  against  royalty  and  nobihty  in  an 
attack  on  the  most  aristocratic  abbey  in  France, 


, 


6 


Q 
< 
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H 

< 

O 
U 

X 

h 

o 

Pi 


< 

< 
p 

< 
m 
D 

O 
< 


278 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


such  as  one  would  expect  in  this  wonderful  woman, 
who,  brought  up  in  a  dissolute  court  and  surrounded 
by  flatterers,  made  a  stepping-stone  of  the  follies 
of  her  youth  to  rise  o'er  her  "  dead  self  to  higher 
things,''  and  was  her  son's  right  hand  and  counsellor 
through  all  the  strange  vicissitudes  of  his  stormy 
life.  We  hope  that  after  Ufe's  fitful  fever  "she 
sleeps  well,"  for  assuredly  her  long  and  faithful 
stewardship  and  her  many  sorrows  have  deserved  it. 

Queen  Berengaria's  effigy  is  not  here — in  death  as 
for  so  long  in  life  she  was  parted  from  the  husband  she 
loved  so  well  and  yet  most  pathetically  often  failed 
to  please  !  How  human  they  become  to  us,  these  long 
dead-and-gone  royalties,  as  we  stand  beside  their 
sculptured  forms  and  muse  on  their  great  destinies — 
which  is  only  another  name  for  great  responsibilities 
— and  pitiable,  often  culpable,  weaknesses.  Almost 
we  seem  to  see  them  as  Tennyson  so  beautifully 
wrote  the  dead  see  us,  *'  who  look  with  other  eyes 
than  ours  to  make  allowances  for  us  all." 

The  tombs  of  our  Angevin  kings  have  set  me 
dreaming  aloud  !  I  have  lingered  too  long  and  yet 
not  told  you  that  their  bodies  lie  here  no  longer, 
or,  if  they  do,  mingle  with  the  dust  maybe  of  the 
prison  yard.  Not  alone  the  Revolution,  not  even 
Huguenots  who  ravaged  Anjou  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  are  responsible  for  this,  but  the  strange 
vicissitudes  of  time  and  the  alterations  in  the 
church.  Whatever  remained  of  them  vanished  in 
the  wild  work  of  that  day  in  1793  when  the  mob, 
armed  with  cudgels,  axes,  and  whatever  weapons 
of  destruction  they  could  lay  their  hands  on,  wreaked 
their  vengeance  against  royalty  and  nobility  in  an 
aUack  on  the  most  aristocratic  abbey  in  Prance, 


o 

-r 

<)5 


1? 


FROM  NORMANDY  TO  AQUITAINE  TO-DAY     281 

and  broke  in  pieces  the  effigies  of  Richard's  sister 

Joan— first  Queen,  then  Countess,  and  last  nun 

and  her  husband,  Raymond  of  Toulouse.  Possibly 
the  other  effigies  escaped  by  the  tombs  containing 
the  actual  bodies  being  the  first  object  of  attack, 
though  a  mason  who  assisted  in  forcing  open  Richard's 
tomb  asserted  that  not  a  bone  was  found  there. 

Notice  the  cloistered  quadrangle  as  you  pass  out, 
and  the  so-called  Abbey  kitchen,  a  stone-built  cone,' 
very  similar  to  those  at  Glastonbury  and  Stanton 
Harcourt,  which  cooked  the  good  monks'  pies  and 
rounds  of  beef  or  boar's  head  in  the  days  when  that 
supposedly  delectable  dish  was  not  limited  to  the 
Christmas  ceremony  of  All  Souls'  College,  Oxford. 

Every  one  who  has  heard  anything  of  Touraine 
knows  of  the  strange  cave  dweUings  in  the  hillside 
on  the  road  to  Saumur.    To  us  everything  is  of 
pecuKar  interest  that  has  remained  unaltered  in  the 
landscape  since  the  close  of  the  twelfth  century,  and 
unquestionably  the  dwellers  in  the  rock  are  the 
successors  of  those  who  have  dwelt  there  from  most 
primitive  times.    The  cKff  in  places  overhangs  the 
road,  and  the  openings  in  it  at  all  heights  and  dis- 
tances often  have  the  entrance  festooned  with  grape 
vines  or  climbing  plants  and  flowers— steps  cut  in 
the  rock  lead  up  to  them.    Their  occupants  are  not 
hermits  as  you  might  imagine— the  only  other  cHff 
honeycombed  Hke  this  that  I  have  seen  was  in  the 
Holy  Land,  on  the  way  to  the  Wilderness  of  the 
Teniptation,   and  there  the   caves  had  been  the 
habitations  of  hermits  since  Bible  times— but  whole 
famiUes,  whose  animals,  I  fancy,  often  share  the 
primitive  dwelHngs  with  the  humans.    Of  the  eleven 
miles  that  divide  Fontevraud  from  Saumur  eight 
^5 


282 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


lie  along  the  course  of  the  Loire — a  steam-tram,  alas ! 
now  goes  this  way — alas  !  that  is  from  the  point  of 
view  of  romance,  though  you  may  find  it  has  its  uses ! 

Saumur  stands  on  the  Angevin  border,  and  from 
the  summit  of  the  castle  on  a  clear  day  you  can  see 
the  towers  of  Angers — ^the  cradle  of  the  Angevin 
race.  Saumur's  castle  (built  by  Geoffrey  Martel  in 
the  eleventh  century,  and  not  completed  till  nearly 
a  hundred  years  after  Richard's  death)  is  its  central 
point  of  interest;  like  most  medieval  strongholds, 
it  gradually  grew  under  successive  architects  to  its 
present  stature.  Battles  were  waged  around  it  in 
the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries,  and  many  an 
unhappy  prisoner  has  languished  in  the  dungeons, 
where,  if  you  look  closely,  you  may  read  the  name 
to-day  he  scratched  upon  the  wall.  Besides  the 
castle,  Saumur  has  a  fine  old  "Hotel  de  Ville."' 
Richard  must  have  passed  through  the  narrow 
streets  of  the  ancient  town  a  hundred  times,  but  it  is 
not  connected  with  any  of  the  great  events  of  his  life. 

You  can  go  by  rail  or  road,  as  you  prefer,  from 
Saumur  to  Angers,  that  scene  of  ancient  story,  on 
the  banks  of  the  Mayenne,  into  which  the  Loire  and 
Sarte  pour  their  united  waters;  but,  however  you 
get  there,  you  will  do  well  to  take  your  first  walk 
down  to  the  waterside  and  look  up-stream  from  the 
lowest  of  the  three  bridges  towards  the  grim  castle, 
which  recalls  the  "black  Angers"  of  the  Middle 
Ages — a  term  which,  though  meant  to  designate  the 
dark  slate  found  in  the  neighbourhood  and  used 
in  its  buildings,  is  very  suggestive  of  the  dark  deeds 
done  there  in  bygone  days. 

The  cradle  of  the  house  of  Anjou  cannot  fail 
to  have  an  interest  for  every  thinking  Englishman 


FROM  NORMANDY  TO  AQUITAINE  TO-DAY     283 

who  remembers  that  from  here  came  the  parent 
stock  of  our  longest  dynasty,  and  the  history  of 
this  warlike  race  can  be  traced  far,  far  back  into 
the  myths  of  antiquity,  when  the  "  Andevace " 
built  a  city  on  the  Maine  in  Roman  times.  Even 
the  Saxons,  who  overran  Anjou  in  the  sixth 
century,  left  little  or  no  trace  of  their  passing 
upon  the  pure  Angevin  stock.  Their  rulers  were 
ever  a  dauntless  race  —  both  men  and  women  — 
witness  the  splendid  courage  of  Margaret  of  Anjou, 
who  "  fought  with  the  strength  of  two  for  the  in- 
heritance of  her  husband,  meek,  scholarly  Henry 
of  Windsor,  for  whom  the  shield  of  faith  had  more 
significance  than  tne  shield  of  the  warrior. "" 

One  there  is,  however,  among  the  Angevin 
Counts  who  cultivated  the  arts  of  peace  instead  of 
those  of  war.  Anjou  is  full  of  stories  of  the  Golden 
Age  of  the  second  Count  Fulk — of  his  love  for  the 
Church  of  St.  Martin  at  Tours,  to  which  he  frequently 
retired,  Uving  with  the  monks  as  an  honorary  canon 
and  refusing  to  be  known  by  his  title.  There  is  a 
legend  that  the  ruler  of  an  adjoining  territory,  coming 
one  day  with  his  courtiers  to  pay  his  devotions  at 
the  shrine,  found,  to  his  great  amusement,  the  Count 
of  Anjou  in  his  canon's  stall  chanting  the  Psalms, 
and  commented  aloud  that  "  the  Count  of  Anjou 
has  turned  clerk.''  Fulk  turned  the  tables  by 
remarking  very  neatly  to  the  King,  "  Know,  my 
lord,  that  an  unlettered  king  is  a  crowned  ass ! '' — 
a  saying  which  passed  into  a  proverb.  But  Fulk 
was  not  only  a  Churchman — he  had  the  brains  of  his 
race,  and  devoted  the  energies  that  in  his  kinsmen 
ran  to  war,  to  the  improvement  of  his  kingdom  and 
rebuilding  of  towns  and  churches  that  had  been  laid 


284 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


waste  by  the  northern  pirates  who  sailed  up  the 
Loire  to  attack  the  rich  lands  of  Aquitaine,  so 
that  the  fame  of  his  good  government  spread  far 
beyond  the  borders  of  his  little  marchland. 

It  was  to  guard  the  whole  Loire  valley  against 
the  Northmen  that  the  castle  on  the  rock  was  reared 
on  the  site  of  the  Roman  citadel.  The  present 
castle,  commenced  at  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century 
and  finished  by  St.  Louis  of  France  in  1230,  is  flanked 
by  seventeen  mighty  towers,  which  have  a  somewhat 
stunted  appearance,  having  been  cut  down  from 
their  original  height  of  a  hundred  feet  by  order  of 
Henry  iii.  Doubtless  they  have  played  their  part 
in  many  a  tragedy,  but  none  more  tragic  than  the 
death  of  young  Arthur  of  Brittany,  who  here  fell  a 
victim  to  his  inhuman  uncle  John,  who,  according 
to  the  legend,  hurled  him  from  the  battlements  into 
the  dark  waters  of  the  moat — now  dark  no  longer, 
for  a  garden  occupies  the  place  and  sends  the  scent 
of  flowers  and  fragrant  herbs  up  through  the  loop- 
hole windows  hke  fragrant  incense  used  to  sweeten 
the  dank,  mouldy  air  of  some  ancient  church. 

There  is  one  portion  of  the  castle  which  Richard 
must  have  known,  for  it  dates  from  the  time  of  Fulk 
Nerra  and  is  to  a  student  of  the  Angevins  "  the 
most  precious  relic  in  all  Angers.''  You  may  stand 
there  as  Fulk  the  Black  Falcon  and  as  Geoffrey 
Grey-gown  did  of  old,  and  look  out  across  the  quiet 
waters  of  the  Mayenne  and  realise  why  this  border 
castle  was  known  as  "  the  key  to  Touraine.'' 

Angers  is  a  city  of  churches,  which,  by  the  way, 
have  a  style  of  their  own,  so  that  Freeman  has  called 
it  "  the  headquarters  of  the  Angevin  style  of  archi- 
tecture/' which  differs  from  that  both  of  France 


FROM  NORMANDY  TO  AQUITAINE  TO-DAY     285 

and  Normandy.  Before  the  Revolution,  we  are 
told,  it  had  no  less  than  twenty-seven  monasteries 
and  convents,  of  which  very  few  remain  to-day. 
The  towers  of  the  cathedral  of  St.  Maurice  crown 
the  hill  which  the  city  cUmbs,  and  rise  above  the 
castle  walls — ^both  Richard  and  his  father  must  have 
watched  it  building,  and  it  cannot  have  been  far  from 
completion  at  the  former's  death. 

Angers  can  boast  of  one  of  the  earliest  hospitals 
known,  which  owed  its  existence  to  the  munificence 
(or  repentance  after  Becket's  murder)  of  Henry  ii.  In 
this  hospital  of  St.  Jean  the  sick  were  cared  for,  as 
in  the  Middle  Ages,  all  together  in  one  great  hall 
containing  nearly  three  hundred  beds  (no  matter 
what  ailed  them)  until  the  middle  of  the  last  century, 
when  a  modern  hospital  was  built.  A  visitor  to 
Angers  in  the  'sixties  still  saw  it  filled  with  the  three 
hundred  beds,  and  was  told  that,  up  to  within  twenty 
years  previous,  lunatics  had  been  also  lodged  among 
"  the  lame,  the  halt,  and  the  blind." 

The  old  hospice  is  now  the  Museum  of  Antiquities 
and  the  Great  Hall  is  alone  worth  going  far  to  see ; 
"  the  brilliance  of  the  Plantagenets  seems  to  illumine 
the  whole  scene,  and  to  hover  around  this  mighty 
monument " ;  and  in  imagination  we  see  the  princely 
donor  pacing  this  regal  hall,  on  one  of  his  visits,  and 
looking  round  upon  the  poor  sufferers,  who  were 
being  cared  for  at  his  cost.  Men  did  things  greatly  in 
the  days  of  old — one  hundred  and  sixty  feet  is  this 
haU  in  length,  and  sixty-three  in  width,  and  its  roof 
is  supported  by  twenty-four  graceful,  pointed  arches 
— ^instead  of  a  hospital  it  might  have  been  the 
throne-room  of  a  king! 

This  ancient  foundation  is  reminiscent  of  those 


t', 


284 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


waste  by  the  northern  pirates  who  sailed  up  the 
Loire  to  attack  the  rich  lands  of  Aquitaine,  so 
that  the  fame  of  his  good  government  spread  far 
beyond  the  borders  of  his  Uttle  marchland. 

It  was  to  guard  the  whole  Loire  valley  against 
the  Northmen  that  the  castle  on  the  rock  was  reared 
on  the  site  of  the  Roman  citadel.  The  present 
castle,  commenced  at  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century 
and  finished  by  St.  Louis  of  France  in  1230,  is  flanked 
by  seventeen  mighty  towers,  which  have  a  somewhat 
stimted  appearance,  having  been  cut  down  from 
their  original  height  of  a  hundred  feet  by  order  of 
Henry  iii.  Doubtless  they  have  played  their  part 
in  many  a  tragedy,  but  none  more  tragic  than  the 
death  of  young  Arthur  of  Brittany,  who  here  fell  a 
victim  to  his  inhuman  uncle  John,  who,  according 
to  the  legend,  hurled  him  from  the  battlements  into 
the  dark  waters  of  the  moat — now  dark  no  longer, 
for  a  garden  occupies  the  place  and  sends  the  scent 
of  flowers  and  fragrant  herbs  up  through  the  loop- 
hole windows  Hke  fragrant  incense  used  to  sweeten 
the  dank,  mouldy  air  of  some  ancient  church. 

There  is  one  portion  of  the  castle  which  Richard 
must  have  known,  for  it  dates  from  the  time  of  Fulk 
Nerra  and  is  to  a  student  of  the  Angevins  "  the 
most  precious  relic  in  all  Angers."  You  may  stand 
there  aa  Fulk  the  Black  Falcon  and  as  Geofcey 
Grey-gown  did  of  old,  and  look  out  across  the  quiet 
waters  of  the  Mayenne  and  realise  why  this  border 
castle  was  known  as  "  the  key  to  Touraine.'* 

Angers  is  a  city  of  churches,  which,  by  the  way, 
have  a  style  of  their  own,  so  that  Freeman  has  called 
it  "  the  headquarters  of  the  Angevin  style  of  archi- 
tecture/' which  difiers  from  that  both  of  France 


FROM  NORMANDY  TO  AQUITAINE  TO-DAY     285 

and  Normandy.  Before  the  Revolution,  we  are 
told,  it  had  no  less  than  twenty-seven  monasteries 
and  convents,  of  which  very  few  remain  to-day. 
The  towers  of  the  cathedral  of  St.  Maurice  crown 
the  hill  which  the  city  chmbs,  and  rise  above  the 
castle  walls — both  Richard  and  his  father  must  have 
watched  it  building,  and  it  cannot  have  been  far  from 
completion  at  the  former's  death. 

Angers  can  boast  of  one  of  the  earliest  hospitals 
known,  which  owed  its  existence  to  the  munificence 
(or  repentance  after  Becket's  murder)  of  Henry  ii.  In 
this  hospital  of  St.  Jean  the  sick  were  cared  for,  as 
in  the  Middle  Ages,  all  together  in  one  great  hall 
containing  nearly  three  hundred  beds  (no  matter 
what  ailed  them)  until  the  middle  of  the  last  century, 
when  a  modern  hospital  was  built.  A  visitor  to 
Angers  in  the  'sixties  still  saw  it  filled  with  the  three 
hundred  beds,  and  was  told  that,  up  to  within  twenty 
years  previous,  lunatics  had  been  also  lodged  among 
"  the  lame,  the  halt,  and  the  bUnd." 

The  old  hospice  is  now  the  Museum  of  Antiquities 
and  the  Great  Hall  is  alone  worth  going  far  to  see ; 
"  the  brilhance  of  the  Plantagenets  seems  to  illumine 
the  whole  scene,  and  to  hover  around  this  mighty 
monument " ;  and  in  imagination  we  see  the  princely 
donor  pacing  this  regal  hall,  on  one  of  his  visits,  and 
looking  round  upon  the  poor  sufferers,  who  were 
being  cared  for  at  his  cost.  Men  did  things  greatly  in 
the  days  of  old — one  hundred  and  sixty  feet  is  this 
haU  in  length,  and  sixty-three  in  width,  and  its  roof 
is  supported  by  twenty-four  graceful,  pointed  arches 
— ^instead  of  a  hospital  it  might  have  been  the 
throne-room  of  a  king! 

This  ancient  foundation  is  reminiscent  of  those 


If 


286 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


I 


years  of  Henry's  reign  when  the  Angevin  Empire 
was  at  the  height  of  its  prosperity  and  its  ruler  found 
time  to  build  **  palaces,  hospitals,  bridges,  and  em- 
bankments " — the  great  dyke  along  the  Loire  above 
its  meeting  with  the  Mayenne  was  Henry's  work,  and 
so  is  the  bridge  across  the  Vienne,  which  the  legend 
ascribes  to  Fulk  Nerra. 

The  spirit  of  modernity  has  been  long  alive  at 
Angers,  converting  its  narrow  streets  and  old,  quaint 
houses  into  those  better  suited  for  modern  life  ;  but 
many  are  the  hnks  with  the  past  still  left,  especially 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  cathedral  and  the  bishops' 
palace,  and  nothing  that  is  precious  is  now  likely  to 
be  lost  by  neglect  or  unfitting  restoration,  for  in 
Anjou — ^that  "  most  aristocratic,  most  simple,  and 
most  old-fashioned"  province  of  France,  which 
preserves  so  much  of  the  old  spirit  of  reverence  that 
"  wayside  crosses  are  still  decked  with  flowers  and 
country  people  still  believe  in  saints  and  holy  wells  " 
— ^there  is  a  real  Renaissance  going  on  which  has 
prompted  the  nobles,  who  still  own  the  old  chateaux, 
to  restore  them  to  as  much  as  possible  what  they 
were  before  the  Revolution. 

The  great  ladies  of  to-day  have  revived  the 
tapestry  work  of  their  great-great-grandmothers, 
and  are  finishing  as  a  labour  of  love  the  work  left 
incomplete  by  fair  fingers  of  the  time  of  Louis  xvi., 
and  with  this  spirit  abroad,  the  Angevins  of  to-day 
also  have  come  to  a  better  appreciation  than  their 
forefathers  of  their  heritage  from  the  Middle  Ages. 

Poitiers,  like  Angers,  has  played  its  part  in  our 
island  story — ^not  alone  do  I  refer  to  its  world-famed 
battle  in  which  the  Black  Prince  overcame  the 
great  French  army  and  took  the  King  of  France 


FROM  NORMANDY  TO  AQUITAINE  TO-DAY     287 

himself  prisoner— and  this,  by  the  way,  took  place 
not  at  Poitiers,  but  in  the  neighbourhood,  and  if 
you  arrive  at  Poitiers  by  train  from  Tours  you  will 
pass  the  site  of  this  famous  fight  at  Moussair  la 
Bataille — ^but  to  earlier  days  when  Eleanor  of 
Aquitaine  brought  Poitou  as  part  of  her  dowry  to 
the  EngUsh  crown.  Especially  I  am  thinking  of 
one  summer  day  in  1172,  when  a  ruddy-haired, 
long-limbed  boy  of  fifteen  was  enthroned  with 
stately  ceremony  in  the  Abbot's  chair  in  the  church 
of  St.  Hilary,  and  proclaimed  "  Duke  of  Aquitaine." 
Of  how  he  governed  his  southern  kingdom  by  the 
sword  I  have  told  elsewhere. 

The  whole  of  Poitou,  with  all  the  country  between 
the  Loire  and  the  Pyrenees,  belonged  to  the  EngUsh 
crown  as  late  as  1360,  when  Normandy  had  been 
French  for  a  hundred  and  fifty  years. 

A  glance  at  the  situation  of  the  town  on  a  height 
above  the  river,  which  here  forms  a  bend,  and 
defended  on  the  open  side  by  another  little  stream, 
the  Boivre,  shows  you  that  the  castle  occupied  a 
strong  position  before  the  age  of  gunpowder,  but 
it  is  for  its  churches  more  than  its  feudal  fortress 
it  is  known  to-day.  One  of  these  is  absolutely 
unique  and  worth  visiting  Poitiers  alone  to  see — ^the 
Baptistry  of  St.  Jean,  the  oldest  Christian  building 
in  France,  erected  between  320  and  330  a.d.  An 
interesting  feature  of  this  little  church  is  that  it  is 
possible  to  trace  the  position  of  the  rooms  where 
the  early  Christian  converts  disrobed  for  baptism 
and  "  whence  they  were  conducted  to  the  central 
basin,  fed  by  a  continual  stream  of  water,  where 
stood  the  Bishop,  the  typical  representative  of  the 
first  Baptist. 


288 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


Freeman  says  of  Saint  Jean,  "  It  is  the  one 
monument  of  the  earliest  Christian  times  which 
has  hved  on,  so  to  speak,  in  its  own  person,  and 
is  not  simply  represented  by  a  later  building  on 
the  same  site/'  It  must  have  been  reckoned  quite 
an  ancient  church  when  Kichard  was  crowned  in 
the  cathedral  of  St.  Pierre,  which  had  been  built 
not  long  before  at  the  cost  of  his  parents,  Henry  ii. 
and  Queen  Eleanor-this  is  a  Romanesque  building, 
but  has  suffered  somewhat  in  the  restoration  of  the 
exterior. 

Then  there  is  the  collegiate  church  of  St.  Rade- 
gonde,  the  patron  saint  of  Poitiers,  another  very 
old  foundation  dating  from  the  sixth  century,  but 
the  present  building  dates  from  the  eleventh. 

St.  Hilaire  stands  on  the  site  of  a  Roman  temple 
which  was  rebuilt  for  Christian  use  in  the  eleventh 
and  tweKth  centuries.  I  have  said  enough  to  show 
you  that  ecclesiastical  Poitiers  had  the  same 
features  in  Richard's  day,  the  same  towers  and 
spires  as  dehght  us  now  after  the  lapse  of  centuries. 

Every  mile  of  the  country  around  here  has  re- 
sounded to  the  tramp  of  armies  and  been  watered 
with  blood  in  the  fights  of  the  Middle  Ages.  It 
was  from  the  court  at  Poitiers  on  Candlemas  Day 
that  the  young  Count  Richard  sent  the  triumphant 
message  to  his  father  that  after  some  nine  months 
of  fighting  he  had  subdued  the  whole  surrounding 
country.  Imagine  the  boyish  exultation  with  which 
he  sent  this  message  ! 

Our  road  still  Hes  southwards  by  Angouleme  to 
Chaluz,  and  there  are  evidences  that  we  are  going 
farther  and  farther  into  the  land  of  sunshine  and 
wine  and  song ;  the  landscape  loses  in  neatness  and 


]■ 


J 


CLOISTERS  OF  MONASTERY   ON  THE  ISLAND  OF   LACROMA,  DALMATIA, 
TRADITIONALLY   FOUNDED   BY   RICHARD  COEUR   DE   LION. 

See  p.  342. 


288 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


Freeman  says  of  Saint  Jean,  "  It  is  the  one 
monument  of  the  earHest  Christian  times  which 
has  Uved  on,  so  to  speak,  in  its  own  person,  and 
is  not  simply  represented  by  a  later  building  on 
the  same  site/^  It  must  have  been  reckoned  quite 
an  ancient  church  when  Kichard  was  crowned  in 
the  cathedral  of  St.  Pierre,  which  had  been  built 
not  long  before  at  the  cost  of  his  parents,  Henry  ii. 
and  Queen  Eleanor — this  is  a  Romanesque  building, 
but  has  suflered  somewhat  in  the  restoration  of  the 
exterior. 

Then  there  is  the  collegiate  church  of  St.  Rade- 
gonde,  the  patron  saint  of  Poitiers,  another  very 
old  foundation  dating  from  the  sixth  century,  but 
the  present  building  dates  from  the  eleventh. 

St.  Hilaire  stands  on  the  site  of  a  Roman  temple 
which  was  rebuilt  for  Christian  use  in  the  eleventh 
and  twelfth  centuries.  I  have  said  enough  to  show 
you  that  ecclesiastical  Poitiers  had  the  same 
features  in  Richard's  day,  the  same  towers  and 
spires  as  dehght  us  now  after  the  lapse  of  centuries. 

Every  mile  of  the  country  around  here  has  re- 
sounded to  the  tramp  of  armies  and  been  watered 
with  blood  in  the  fights  of  the  Middle  Ages.  It 
was  from  the  court  at  Poitiers  on  Candlemas  Day 
that  the  young  Count  Richard  sent  the  triumphant 
message  to  his  father  that  after  some  nine  months 
of  fighting  he  had  subdued  the  whole  surrounding 
country.  Imagine  the  boyish  exultation  with  which 
he  sent  this  message  ! 

Our  road  still  Hes  southwards  by  Angouleme  to 
Chaluz,  and  there  are  evidences  that  we  are  going 
farther  and  farther  into  the  land  of  sunshine  and 
wine  and  song ;  the  landscape  loses  in  neatness  and 


1- 


CLOISTERS  OF  MONASTKRV   ON   THE   ISLAND  OF    LACROMA,  DALMATIA, 
TRAl>rriONALLY    FOUNDED    P.V   RICHARD   COEUR   DE    LION. 

See  p.  342. 


a 


FROM  NORMANDY  TO  AQUITAINE  TO-DAY     291 

gains  in  picturesqueness — oxen  draw  the  country 
carts — ^vines  twine  round  the  porches  and  windows 
of  the  houses — ^green  hedges  have  replaced  the  dark 
slate  fences  of  Anjou.  This  is  Troubadour  land  and 
in  the  heart  of  it  is  Angouleme,  the  scene  of  Richard's 
great  victory  over  the  leaders  of  the  rebelho  .  which 
was  stirred  by  the  singing  of  Bertrand  de  Born 
and  headed  by  the  lord  of  Angouleme !  Where 
the  boulevards  are  to-day  the  walls  and  ramparts 
once  stood  that  the  boy-duke  battered  down  in  a 
six  days'  siege,  undertaken  single-handed,  as  light- 
heartedly  as  if  his  elder  brother  had  not  basely 
deserted  him  and  returned  to  France,  leaving  him 
to  fight  alone.  The  cathedral  of  St.  Pierre,  one  of 
the  most  interesting  Eomanesque  Byzantine  buildings 
in  France,  is  of  Richard's  time,  though  restored. 

And  now  we  are  getting  very  near  to  the  spot 
that  saw  the  closing  scenes  of  Richard's  life — 
Chaluz.  It  lies  quite  ojffi  the  highway  of  travel, 
and  to  reach  it  ^y  train  from  Angouleme  you 
must  journey  past  La  Rochefoucaulds  (a  little 
town  with  a  magnificent  castle,  the  earliest  part 
of  which  is  of  the  twelfth  century  and  so  was 
surely  one  of  those  Richard  subdued)  and  Roche- 
chouart  (with  another  feudal  pile).  The  next 
station  is  Chaluz,  but  if  you  walk,  or  drive, 
or  cycle— or  fly  through  the  countryside,  without 
having  time  to  see  its  beauties,  in  a  motor 
car — ^you  can  reach  it  from  Angouleme  in  half  the 
distance  by  road,  and  if  you  choose  a  leisurely 
mode  of  travel  you  will  have  time  to  recall  the 
history  of  the  land  you  are  passing  through,  which 
was  wholly  apart  from  that  of  Normandy  or  of 
Touraine  or  of  any  other  part  of  France  in  that 


Z«7  Z 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


classic  time  of  the  Troubadours,  contemporary  with 
the  golden  days  of  the  nobles  of  the  south ;  most 
of  the  Troubadours,  indeed,  were  nobles,  beginning 
with  that  Count  of  Poitou,  of  whom  a  Provencal 
historian  quaintly  writes,  "He  knew  well  how 
to  sing  and  to  make  verse,  and  for  a  long  time  he 
roamed  through  all  the  land  to  deceive  the  ladies/' 

"  The  men  of  the  south  lived  in  a  world  where 
the  most  delicate  poetry  and  the  fiercest  savagery, 
the  wildest  morals  and  political  disorder,  and  the 
most  refined  intellectual  culture  mingled  together 
in  a  confusion  as  picturesque  as  it  was  dangerous. 
The  southern  warrior  was  but  half  a  knight  if  the 
sword  was  his  only  weapon — ^if  he  could  not  sing  his 
battles  as  well  as  fight  them  .  .  .  love  and  war  all 
mingled  together  in  the  Troubadours'  Ufe  in  an 
inextricable  coil/'  ^  Kemember  this  when  next  you 
see  a  hoary  castle  in  Provence  and  would  know 
what  manner  of  men  dwelt  there  ! 

"  There  is  little  to  see  at  Chaluz !  "  perhaps  you 
will  tell  me  now  that  I  have  brought  you  so  far- 
only  two  villages  known  as  Chaluz  and  Chabrol,  each 
crowned  by  a  medieval  tower.  The  lower  one, 
tradition  says,  is  that  which  Kichard  took— and 
paid  for  with  his  Ufe.  You  may  find  nothing  in  it 
and  wish  to  take  the  next  train  for  Perigueux,  or 
you  may  sit  down  upon  the  grass  among  the  wild 
flowers  within  sight  of  the  ruined  keep  and  find 
food  enough  for  thought  in  recalUng  the  tragic 
story  of  long  ago,  which  closed  the  career  of  the 
"  Lion  Heart,"  amid  the  very  scenes  in  which  it 

took  place. 

Chaluz  is   on    a    branch    line  which  connects 

1  Angevin  Kings,  vol.  n.  p.  204. 


FROM  NORMANDY  TO  AQUITAINE  TO-DAY     293 

with  that  to  Perigueux  at  Natron.  It  is  worth 
while  to  go  as  far  south  as  Perigueux,  not  alone 
because  of  the  part  it  played  in  Richard's  wars — 
here  in  1182  the  Count  of  Limoje  surrendered  to  the 
youthful  duke — but  because  the  river-girt  city  is 
itself  so  charming  that  we  welcome  an  excuse  to 
visit  it  before  we  retrace  our  footsteps  northwards. 

You  may  have  noticed  that  all  the  cities  through 
which  we  have  journeyed,  like  Tours,  have  "  their 
feet  in  the  water  " ;  doubtless  the  reason  of  it  was 
strictly  utilitarian  in  the  beginning,  but  anyway  it 
makes  for  picturesqueness,  and  Perigueux,  climbing 
the  hill  from  the  water's  edge  and  sheltered  caress- 
ingly all  round  by  wooded  hills,  with  the  domed  tower 
of  its  cathedral — the  most  ancient  tower  in  France — 
rising  from  the  midst,  is  eminently  picturesque. 

Its  story  goes  far  back  beyond  the  time  when 
Richard  was  Duke  of  Poitou — the  ruins  of  the 
Roman  amphitheatre  tell  their  own  tale,  though  only 
a  few  arches  are  left,  and  here  is  history  on  history, 
for  we  know  "  the  Counts  of  Perigueux  made  this 
amphitheatre  their  chateau  in  the  twelfth  century 
and  inhabited  it  till  the  sixteenth  century."  There 
is  much  more  that  is  Roman  at  Perigueux,  for  the 
Tour  de  Vesons  is  part  of  a  pagan  temple  dedicated 
to  the  goddess  of  the  city  and  the  medieval  Barriere 
chateau  has  Roman  foundations  —  again  history 
on  history  !  There  is  many  another  ancient  castle, 
many  another  ancient  town,  I  would  Uke  to  show 
you  in  the  sunny  south,  but  both  in  Anjou  and 
Normandy  there  are  places  that  played  a  greater 
part  in  our  hero's  story,  so  thither  we  must  go  to 
Le  Mans — ^the  birthplace  of  Richard's  father  and 
burial-place  of  his  wife. 


294 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


And  this  recalk  to  me  another  scene  that  happened 
at  Le  Mans — a,  scene  that  suddenly  brings  before  us 
those  far-ofi  days,  because  there  is  in  it  the  element 
of  human  emotion  that  "  makes  the  whole  world 
kin ''  and  hnks  the  centuries. 

A  young  man's  body  arrayed  in  spotless  linen  robes 
is  being  borne  on  the  shoulders  of  his  comrades  in 
arms  through  Anjou,  and  from  every  castle  and 
town  and  village  people  throng  out  to  meet  the 
funeral  procession,  while  tears  roll  down  women's 
cheeks  and  many  kneel  in  prayer — the  procession 
enters  Le  Mans  and  the  corpse  is  placed  reverently 
in  the  cathedral  to  be  watched  over  by  the  clergy 
throughout  the  night.  It  is  Kichard's  elder  brother, 
the  young  King  Henry,  who  is  being  carried  to  his 
last  resting-place  at  Rouen.  But  the  people  of 
Le  Mans  have  to  be  reckoned  with — ^they  will  not 
let  their  young  King  go — and  at  break  of  day  they 
take  possession  of  the  corpse  and  bury  the  young 
King  in  their  own  cathedral  beside  his  grandfather. 

Another  figure  moves  in  memory  through  the 
streets  of  Le  Mans — ^it  is  Berengaria,  who  dwelt  here 
in  the  years  of  her  estrangement  from  Richard 
and  after  his  death  till  she  left  the  world  that  had 
given  her  but  little  joy  for  the  convent  of  Epau. 
They  will  show  you  her  house  at  Le  Mans,  but  the 
f ajade  is  not  more  ancient  than  the  fifteenth  century, 
so  it  may  have  been  then  altered  or  rebuilt. 

"  La  bonne  reine  Berengke,''  they  called  her 
here,  or  "  la  Reina  Blanche,"  because  she  dressed  in 
white,  which  was  the  mourning  of  royal  widows 
of  her  day.  There  are  old  records  that  tell  of  an 
historic  cavalcade  in  1204  when  Berengaria  came 
in  state  to  be  installed  by  the   King  of  France, 


FROM  NORMANDY  TO  AQUITAINE  TO-DAY     295 

Philip  Augustus,  as  his  royal  vassal  and  ruler  of 
Mains. 

Her  effigy  represents  her,  with  her  head  resting 
on  a  pillow  and  wearing  her  royal  crown,  while  her 
long  hair  flows  down  far  below  her  shoulders- 
like  that  of  her  royal  husband,  you  may  see  a  copy 
of  it  in  the  Byzantine  Court  at  the  Crystal  Palace 
if  you  cannot  go  to  Le  Mans. 

Berengaria  is  enshrined  in  the  memory  of  the 
people  of  that  city  as  a  saint,  and  stories  of  the  good 
deeds  she  did  in  her  thirty-one  years  of  widowhood 
are  legion.  One  story  there  is  that  has  its  humorous 
side,  and  shows  that  she  was  quick-witted  as  well 
as  saintly,  and  not  blind  to  the  httle  weaknesses  of 
human  nature  even  in  a  monk.  The  story  is  that 
near  to  the  abbey  she  founded  stood  a  mill,  not  in 
the  ecclesiastical  property,  but  in  her  own  private 
ground.  The  good  monks  were  disturbed  in  their 
devotions  by  the  sounds  of  its  whirring  wheel, 
so  Berengaria  gave  them  the  mill  with  the  ground 
it  stood  on.  Do  you  suppose  they  pulled  it  down  or 
stopped  it  working  ?  Not  a  bit  of  it— but  the  noise 
disturbed  them  no  more ! 

I  have  told  you  so  many  tales  of  old  Le  Mans 
that  I  have  left  but  little  time  to  speak  of  Le  Mans 
to-day.  It  is  a  clean  Uttle  town  of  cheerful  aspect, 
hving  in  the  shelter  of  the  great  church  upon  the  hill, 
which  slowly  grew  into  its  present  beauty  between 
the  eleventh  and  fourteenth  centuries.  The  church 
is  altogether  beautiful,  but  the  transept  and  choir 
are  its  crowning  glory  ;  "  the  choir  as  a  specimen  of 
pointed  Gothic  is  equal  to  any  in  France,  the  stained 
glass  rivals  Chartres,  and  the  rose  window  in  the 
transept  may  be  compared  with  the  finest  in  Rouen/' 


!»l 


i! 


'■{ 


H 


296  RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 

Here  rests  near  the  high  altar  Geoffrey,  Count  of 
Anjou,  the  first  of  the  Plantagenets,  who  has  handed 
that  historic  name  down  to  a  long  Une  of  English 
kings  from  his  custom  of  wearing  a  sprig  of  broom, 
flanta  gmistae,  in  his  cap,  and  in  the  Museum 
you  may  see  his  full-length  portrait  enamelled  on 
copper  and  reckoned  its  greatest  treasure. 

Hardly  less  interesting  than  Angers  to  a  student 
of  the  Angevins  is  this  city  of  Le  Mans,  which, 
though  the  past  is  only  represented  now  in  its 
cathedral  and  bits  of  Roman  wall,  has  played  a 
stirring  part  both  in  medieval  and  in  modern  hii>tory 
and  witnessed  the  defeat  of  the  gre^t  army  of  the 
Loire  by  the  Prussians  in  1870,  when  its  cathedral 
fulfilled  the  sacred  mission  of  giving  shelter  to 
the  wounded  and  comfort  to  the  dying.- 

Of  all  the  fortresses  in  NormAndy  none  played 
a  more  important  part  in  Richard's  wa«  and  in  his 
treaties  with  the  King  of  France,  than  that  of  Gisora, 
which  William  Rufus  raised  to  guard  the  border. 
Gisors  was  part  of  the  dowry  of  Margaret  on  her 
marriage  with  the  young  King  Henry,  and  on  her 
husband's  death  leaving  her  childk^,  her  brother 
Philip,  after  the  custom  of  those  days,  demanded 
its  return.    Henry  n.  knew  fuU  well  its  value  and 
refused  to  give  it  up,  and  it  was  left  in  his  hands 
in  return  for  a  monetary  compensation  as  part  o! 
the  dower  of  the  unfortunate  Alois,  who  was  to  have 
married  Richard,  but  never  did  — a  circumstance 
which  gave  Philip  a  pretext  for  seudng  Gisors  during 
Richard  8  captivity  in  Germany, 

On  his  release  he  won  it  back,  but  was  forced  to 
oede  it  to  Philip  at  the  treaty  of  Louvicrs,  for  which 
he  took  hi3  revenge  ia  building  his  famous  lurtresa 


FROM  NORMANDY  TO  AQUITAINE  TO-DAY     297 

Chateau  Gaillard,  which  you  soon  will  see.  Only 
the  castle  keep  of  Gisors  is  that  built  by 
William  Rufus  —  it  was  enlarged  by  Henry  n., 
and  strengthened  by  Philip  after  the  treaty  of 
Louviers.  If  you  climb  the  staircase  in  the  keep 
you  can  look  down  upon  the  outer  walls  and  the 
old  town  beyond,  which  is  worth  exploring,  for  it 
has  some  delightful  timber-framed  houses  and  a 
thirteenth-century  church  with  curious  carvings  of 
which  you  get  peeps  between  the  houses.  The 
historic  elm  tree  growing  on  the  border,  beneath 
whose  shade  the  kings  of  England  and  France  often 
met  and  talked^  vanished  centuries  ago.  On  the 
way  from  Gisors  to  Lc^  iVndeljrs  is  a  very  interesting 
reminder  that  we  are  on  the  border  wheix>  war 
alarms  were  ever  looked  for,  in  an  okJ  fortified 
farmhouse  with  towers.  The  countryside  has  an 
English  look,  as  if  some  influence  of  it*  former  rulers 
lingered,  and  the  white  chalk  soil  reminds  you  of 
Kent. 

Seventeen  miles  from  Gisors  are  the  two  Andeljrs 
nestling  at  the  foot  of  the  rock  which  is  crowned  by 
Chateau  Gaillard.  Le  Grand  Andelvs  is  in  the 
valley ;  Le  Petit  Andel}^  on  the  river-bank  at  the 
very  foot  of  the  castle.  The  former  is  the  older  town, 
for  its  history  goes  back  t>o  the  sixth  century  when 
Qneen  Clotilda  built  a  nunnery  here  to  which  the 

0 

Anglo-Saxon  nobles  sent  their  daughters  to  learn  all 
the  good  nuns  could  teach.  It  must  have  been 
during  Richard's  lifetime  that  this  convent  was 
replaced  by  the  present  fine  collegiate  church  with 
its  three  towers  and  beautiful  sixte<jnth-ccntury 
windows. 

Hardly  less  interesting  than  the  church,  and  may- 


298 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


l( 


be  to  many  people  more  so,  is  the  famous  old  Inn  of 
the  Grand  Cerf ,  which  dates  back  to  the  beginning 
of  the  sixteenth  century.     Its  *'  great  carved  chim- 
ney-piece,   antique    furniture,    and    general    old- 
world  air  ''  are  a  joy  to  those  often  compelled  to  try 
and  conjure  up  the  past  in  this  storied  land  in  a 
painfully  modern  hotel  environment  '* ;  it  has  been 
well  described  as  "  a  place  which  will  abide  in  the 
recollection  of  the  visitor  long  after  the  memory  of 
more  pretentious  hotels  has  faded  into  oblivion/' 
Alas,  that  its  old  visitors'  book  containing  the  auto- 
graphs of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  Rosa  Bonheur,  and  Victor 
Hugo  has  been  appropriated  by  some  unprincipled 
curiosity  hunter  !     If  you  lodge  a  day  or  two  at  the 
Chateau  Neuf  you  will  gain  a  far  better  impression 
of  Chateau  Gaillard  than  if  you  pay  it  but  a  few 
hours'  hurried  visit  on  the  way  to  Rouen.     It  is 
worth    study !     This  Dreadnought    among    castles 
which  was  the  wonder  of  the  age  it  was  built  in,  and 
is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  medieval  ruins  known 
to-day.     If  you  would  carry  away  a  never-to-be-for- 
gotten remembrance,  time  your  visit  to  Les  Andelys 
to  see  Chateau  Gaillard  when  the  moon  is  full,  and 
perhaps  in  the  magic  hght  of  its  silvery  rays,  if  you 
climb  lip  to  the  hoary  walls  and  towers  that  are  still 
so  majestic  in  their  ruin,  you  can  reconstruct  the 
scene  for  yourself  when  Richard,  surrounded  by  his 
court,  kept  the  first  birthday  of  his  castle  with  feast 
and  wine  and  song,  and  his  dehght  gave  vent  to  the 
historic  "  Comme  elle  est  belle,  ma  filette  d'un  an  !  " 
Richard's  heart  was  buried  at  Rouen.     The  place 
of  its  burial  was  surmounted  by  an  effigy  similar  to 
that    at    Fontevraud.     This    disappeared    in    1734 
together  with  that  of  his  brother  Henry,  "  the  young 


A  i 


*'**^t?Ss''^^^r? 


:^ 


RUINS   OF    DtJRRENSTEIN,   ON   THE   DANUHE. — See  p.  345. 


298 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


be  to  many  people  more  so,  is  the  famous  old  Inn  of 
the  Grand  Cerf ,  which  dates  back  to  the  beginning 
of  the  sixteenth  century.  Its  "  great  carved  chim- 
ney-piece, antique  furniture,  and  general  old- 
world  air  "  are  a  joy  to  those  often  compelled  to  try 
and  conjure  up  the  past  in  this  storied  land  in  a 
painfully  modern  hotel  environment  "  ;  it  has  been 
weU  described  as  *'  a  place  which  will  abide  in  the 
recollection  of  the  visitor  long  after  the  memory  of 
more  pretentious  hotels  has  faded  into  oblivion." 
Alas,  that  its  old  visitors'  book  containing  the  auto- 
graphs of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  Rosa  Bonheur,  and  Victor 
Hugo  has  been  appropriated  by  some  unprincipled 
curiosity  hunter !  If  you  lodge  a  day  or  two  at  the 
Chateau  Neuf  you  will  gain  a  far  better  impression 
of  Chateau  Gaillard  than  if  you  pay  it  but  a  few 
hours'  hurried  visit  on  the  way  to  Rouen.  It  is 
worth  study!  This  Dreadnought  among  castles 
which  was  the  wonder  of  the  age  it  was  built  in,  and 
is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  medieval  ruins  known 
to-day.  If  you  would  carry  away  a  never-to-be-for- 
gotten remembrance,  time  your  visit  to  Les  Andelys 
to  see  Chateau  Gaillard  when  the  moon  is  full,  and 
perhaps  in  the  magic  hght  of  its  silvery  rays,  if  you 
climb  up  to  the  hoary  walls  and  towers  that  are  still 
so  majestic  in  their  ruin,  you  can  reconstruct  the 
scene  for  yourself  when  Richard,  surrounded  by  his 
court,  kept  the  first  birthday  of  his  castle  with  feast 
and  wine  and  song,  and  his  dehght  gave  vent  to  the 
historic  "  Comme  elle  est  belle,  ma  filette  d'un  an  !  " 
Richard's  heart  was  buried  at  Rouen.  The  place 
of  its  burial  was  surmounted  by  an  effigy  similar  to 
that  at  Fontevraud.  This  disappeared  in  1734 
together  with  that  of  his  brother  Henry,  "  the  young 


RUINS   OK    DURRKNSTKIN,   ON    THE    DANUl'.E. — See  p.  345. 


I?- 

it 


t\ 


FROM  NORMANDY  TO  AQUITAINE  TO-DAY     301 

King/'  crowned  in  his  father's  Ufetime,  whose  body, 
I  told  you,  the  people  of  Le  Mans  took  by  force  and 
buried  in  their  cathedral— but  there  is  a  sequel  to 
that  story.  The  men  of  Rouen  threatened  to  go  to 
Le  Mans  to  fetch  it,  so,  fearing  bloodshed  between  the 
rival  cities,  Henry  ii.  made  an  order  for  the  corpse  to 
be  given  up.  You  will  see  an  effigy  of  the  young 
King  in  Rouen  to-day  —  but  it  is  modern  —  the 
original  has  never  been  found. 

To  the  French  archaeologist,  M.  Deville,  it  is  due 
that  Richard's  effigy  as  well  as  the  casket  con- 
taining his  heart  were  discovered  in  1838.    It  was 
known    that    the    tomb    had     been     demohshed 
because  the  Canons  of  the  Cathedral  in  1734  "  ele- 
vated the  pavement  area  and  left  no  trace  of  the 
tombs  which,  in  their  opinion,  encumbered  the  area 
of  the  choir."    With  only  a  small  tablet,  stating  that 
at  that  place  the  heart  of  Richard  had  first  been 
buried,  to  guide  him,  M.  Deville  began  to  excavate 
near  the  spot  adjoining  the  entrance  to  the  choir 
from  the  south  side.    Beneath  the  pavement  was 
a   bed   of   mortar  so   hard  that  it  was  with  diffi- 
culty broken  up,  and  embedded  in  this  two  feet 
below  the  surface  was  foimd  the  effigy.    "  All  the 
cavities  of  the  drapery  and  other  parts  were  filled  up 
with  the  cement  poured  over  it  apparently  to  form 
a  compact  substratimi  for  the  new  pavement  of  the 
choir — the  projecting  parts  of  the  head,  the  hands, 
and  the  feet  had  apparently  been  levelled  with  the 
same  intention.  .  .  .  When  cleared,  however,  from 
the  mortar,  which  had  become  almost  as  hard  as 
the  stone  itself,  the  defaced  but  highly  interesting 
memorial  proved  to  be  in  a  more  perfect  state  of  pre- 
Bcrvation  than  might  have  been  anticipated,  and  the 

i6 


m 


302 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


painting  and  gilding  with  which  every  part  had  been 
decorated  was  on  many  portions  still  perceptible/' 

So  we  have  Richard's  effigy  at  Rouen  to-day  to 
compare  with  that  at  Fontevraud.  Of  the  finding  of 
the  King's  heart,  also  by  M.  Deville,  I  have  aheady 
told  you  elsewhere.  It  is  a  curious  coincidence  that 
the  silver  railing  which  once  surrounded  the  tomb  was 
sold  in  1250  to  raise  money  for  the  ransom  of  another 
King  who  had  gone  Crusading— Louis  the  Good  of 
France. 

There  are  differences  between  the  two  effigies  that 
are  puzzling — ^the  features  are  similar,but  the  arrange- 
ment of  the  hair  is  quite  different,  and  in  the  Rouen 
effigy  the  King  is  represented  as  clean-shaven  and 
is  not  vested  in  all  his  royal  robes,  yet  in  the  letter 
of  Albert  Way,  MA.,  F.S.A.,  to  the  Society  of  An- 
tiquities of  London,  published  in  the  Archaeologia,  he 
expresses  the  opinion  that  the  effigy  at  Rouen,  in  spite 
of  the  mutilations,  is  superior  to  that  at  Fontevrault. 

It  is  a  mystery  how  it  escaped  the  fire  that 
destroyed  Rouen  cathedral  in  1200,  but  the  sup- 
position is  that  the  costly  casket  took  so  long  to 
make,  it  was  not  put  in  position  in  the  choir  by  that 

time. 

Of  the  tweKth-century  Rouen  nothing  is  left  to- 
day but  the  lower  part  of  the  north  tower  of  the 
Cathedral  spared  by  the  fire,and,  hidden  away  beneath 
the  new  church  of  St.  Gervais,  the  oldest  crjrpt  in 
France,  where  he  buried  two  of  the  earhest  Bishops  of 
Rouen.  It  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  Richard 
would  have  visited  the  spot,  for  it  was  in  the  abbey, 
"  possibly  on  the  very  floor  above  this  very  crypt," 
that  his  great  ancestor,  WilUam  the  Conqueror, 
breathed  his  last. 


CHAPTER    II 

THE  SEACOAST  OP  PALESTINE — ACRE  TO  GAZA 

TO-DAY 


Hardly  in  this  world  to-day,  outside  the  sacred 
sites  of  Bethlehem,  Nazareth,  and  Jerusalem,  is 
there  a  spot  with  more  interesting  associations  to 
be  found  than  the  lovely  bay  of  Acre.  Right  away 
to  Mount  Carmel  towards  the  south,  stretch  the  ten 
miles  of  golden  palm-fringed  sands,  that  were  once 
the  vast  camp  of  all  the  armies  of  Christendom. 
It  seems  pecuHarly  fitting  that  the  Crusaders'  head- 
quarters should  have  been  almost  at  the  foot  of 
the  sacred  mountain  for  ever  memorable  in  Bible 
history.  Often  must  King  Richard  have  raised 
his  eyes  to  the  ridge  where  the  servant  of  the  prophet 
saw  "  a  Uttle  cloud  arising  out  of  the  sea,''  often 
had  his  courage  strengthened  (if  ever  amid  the 
dissensions  around  him  his  faith  in  his  mission 
wavered)  by  recaUing  God's  vindication  of  His  servant 
of  old  time. 

That  grim  tragedy  of  the  slaughter  of  the  eight 
hundred  and  fifty  false  prophets  of  the  groves,  by 
the  brook  Kishon,  perhaps  seemed  in  his  eyes 
(eager  as  chroniclers  of  old  tell  us  he  was  "  to  destroy 
the  Turk,  confound  the  law  of  Mohamet  utterly  and 
vindicate  that  of  Christ ")  a  justifiable  precedent  for 


I 


\ 


1 


803 


304 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


1^1 


the  ruthless  slaughter  of  the  Saracen  hostages 
before  the  walls  of  Acre,  which  stains  the  record 
of  his  splendid  achievements,  but  is,  nevertheless, 
characteristic  of  the  barbarous  spirit  of  the  time. 

I  wrote  these  words  within  sight  of  Acre — ^that 
walled  city  which  has  been  described  as  "  a  fortress 
in  the  sea,'"  when  the  sunset  glow  was  illumining 
its  white  houses  and  blue  shadows  rested  on  the 
mountains  of  Samaria  behind  it,  while  a  blue  sea 
lapped  its  walls.  My  fancy  bridged  the  seven 
hundred  years  that  lie  between  us  and  the  twelfth 
century,  to  picture  it  with  the  standards  of  seven- 
teen Kings  and  Princes  flying  from  its  walls,  bidding 
defiance  to  Islam ! 

I  had  driven  from  Haifa  in  the  early  morning, 
and  these  are  some  of  the  impressions  I  gathered 
by  the  way.  In  Haifa,  a  market-place  full  of  gay 
colour,  narrow  Eastern  streets  where  foot  passengers 
jostle,  donkeys,  and  an  occasional  carriage ;  a  little 
churchyard  where  blossomed  purple  iris  among  the 
tombs,  a  little  station  by  a  grove  of  palm  trees, 
with  flower-bedecked  trains  (it  was  the  Sultan's 
birthday,  or  some  such  festal  day),  and  then  a  drive 
along  the  golden  sands  during  which  one  wheel 
of  the  high  vehicle  I  rode  in  was  generally  in  the 
gea — so  past  many  fishermen  with  bare,  brown 
legs  showing  below  their  scanty  white  garments 
(tucked  up  round  the  waist  for  convenience  in 
wading),  hauling  nets  exactly  as  their  ancestors 
hauled  them  nineteen  hundred  years  ago— across 
the  brook  Kishon  with  its  memories  of  Sisera's 
discomfiture  and  the  slaughter  of  the  false  prophets— 
Kishon  is  but  a  harmless  little  stream  in  the  dry 
season,  but  when  swollen  by  rains  it  flows  with  a 


ACRE  TO  GAZA  TO-DAY 


305 


deep  and  strong  current — ^till  at  last  I  could  discern 
the  Crusaders'  tower  that  was  once  part  of  the 
fortifications,  now  standing  alone,  a  soKtary  islet 
rising  out  of  the  sea  some  hundreds  of  yards  from 
the  land.  Mighty  fortifications  still  surround  the 
town — to  see  them  is  to  reaUse  that  it  was  once 
considered  impregnable — on  the  land  side  there 
is  a  double  rampart  with  a  fosse.  To  the  east 
is  a  mound  which  has  played  no  small  part  in  the 
sieges  of  Acre — ^it  must  have  been  the  ''  Turon  '*  of 
the  Crusaders ;  that  Richard  took  up  his  station 
there  to  direct  the  attack  is  more  than  probable  as 
tradition  has  named  it  after  him. 

Here,  we  know.  Napoleon  planted  his  banners  in 
1799,  and,  standing  here  and  pointing  to  the  walled 
city  before  him,  he  said  to  Murat, "  The  fate  of  the 
East  depends  upon  yonder  petty  town ! ""  Yet 
the  "  petty  town  "  withstood  him  after  eight  assaults ; 
the  conqueror  of  Europe  failed  to  take  Acre,  and 
as  his  brave  officers  and  devoted  soldiers  fell,  their 
heads  were  cut  off  and  brought  in  to  the  inhuman 
Pasha,  who  sat  in  his  palace  surroimded  by  these 
ghastly  trophies,  giving  money  to  all  who  brought 
in  the  heads  of  Frenchmen.  Acre  was  to  Napoleon 
in  Asia  what  Waterloo  was  to  become  in  Europe — 
the  grave  of  his  dream  of  Empire.  There  are 
still  memories  of  Napoleon  there  in  the  graves  of 
British  officers  who  had  arrived  on  two  men-of-war 
commanded  by  Sir  Sidney  Smith  two  days  before 
the  French,  and  in  time  to  help  in  the  defence  of  the 
town  against  him.  It  seems  strange  that  Englishmen 
could  have  acted  in  concert  with  such  a  fiend  as 
Djezzar  Pasha — the  Butcher — but  fear  of  Napoleon 
caused  ail  men  to  unite  against  one  they  regarded  as  a 


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the  rutUess  slaughter  of  the  Saracen  hostages 
before  the  walls  of  Acre,  which  stains  the  record 
of  his  splendid  achievements,  but  is,  nevertheless, 
characteristic  of  the  barbarous  spirit  of  the  time. 

I  wrote  these  words  within  sight  of  Acre — ^that 
walled  city  which  has  been  described  as  "  a  fortress 
in  the  sea,*'  when  the  sunset  glow  was  illumining 
its  white  houses  and  blue  shadows  rested  on  the 
mountains  of  Samaria  behind  it,  while  a  blue  sea 
lapped  its  walls.  My  fancy  bridged  the  seven 
hundred  years  that  lie  between  us  and  the  twelfth 
century,  to  picture  it  with  the  standards  of  seven- 
teen Kings  and  Princes  flying  from  its  walls,  bidding 
defiance  to  Islam ! 

I  had  driven  from  Haifa  in  the  early  morning, 
and  these  are  some  of  the  impressions  I  gathered 
by  the  way.  In  Haifa,  a  market-place  full  of  gay 
colour,  narrow  Eastern  streets  where  foot  passengers 
jostle,  donkeys,  and  an  occasional  carriage ;  a  little 
churchyard  where  blossomed  purple  iris  among  the 
tombs,  a  little  station  by  a  grove  of  palm  trees, 
with  flower-bedecked  trains  (it  was  the  Sultan's 
birthday,  or  some  such  festal  day),  and  then  a  drive 
along  the  golden  sands  during  which  one  wheel 
of  the  high  vehicle  I  rode  in  was  generally  in  the 
sea— so  past  many  fishermen  with  bare,  brown 
legs  showing  below  their  scanty  white  garments 
(tucked  up  round  the  waist  for  convenience  in 
wading),  hauling  nets  exactly  as  their  ancestors 
hauled  them  nineteen  hundred  years  ago— across 
the  brook  Kishon  with  its  memories  of  Sisera's 
discomfiture  and  the  slaughter  of  the  false  prophets— 
Kishon  is  but  a  harmless  little  stream  in  the  dry 
season,  but  when  swollen  by  rains  it  flows  with  a 


ACRE  TO  GAZA  TO-DAY 


305 


deep  and  strong  current — ^till  at  last  I  could  discern 
the  Crusaders'  tower  that  was  once  part  of  the 
fortifications,  now  standing  alone,  a  solitary  islet 
rising  out  of  the  sea  some  hundreds  of  yards  from 
the  land.  Mighty  fortifications  still  surround  the 
town — to  see  them  is  to  realise  that  it  was  once 
considered  impregnable — on  the  land  side  there 
is  a  double  rampart  with  a  fosse.  To  the  east 
is  a  mound  which  has  played  no  small  part  in  the 
sieges  of  Acre — ^it  must  have  been  the  "  Turon  '*  of 
the  Crusaders;  that  Richard  took  up  his  station 
there  to  direct  the  attack  is  more  than  probable  as 
tradition  has  named  it  after  him. 

Here,  we  know.  Napoleon  planted  his  banners  in 
1799,  and,  standing  here  and  pointing  to  the  walled 
city  before  him,  he  said  to  Murat, "  The  fate  of  the 
East  depends  upon  yonder  petty  town ! "  Yet 
the  "  petty  town  "  withstood  him  after  eight  assaults ; 
the  conqueror  of  Europe  failed  to  take  Acre,  and 
as  his  brave  officers  and  devoted  soldiers  fell,  their 
heads  were  cut  off  and  brought  in  to  the  inhuman 
Pasha,  who  sat  in  his  palace  surrounded  by  these 
ghastly  trophies,  giving  money  to  all  who  brought 
in  the  heads  of  Frenchmen.  Acre  was  to  Napoleon 
in  Asia  what  Waterloo  was  to  become  in  Europe — 
the  grave  of  his  dream  of  Empire.  There  are 
still  memories  of  Napoleon  there  in  the  graves  of 
British  officers  who  had  arrived  on  two  men-of-war 
commanded  by  Sir  Sidney  Smith  two  days  before 
the  French,  and  in  time  to  help  in  the  defence  of  the 
town  against  him.  It  seems  strange  that  Englishmen 
could  have  acted  in  concert  with  such  a  fiend  as 
Djezzar  Pasha — the  Butcher— but  fear  of  Napoleon 
caused  all  men  to  unite  against  one  they  regarded  as  a 


i 


' 


i 


I 


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RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


ACRE  TO  GAZA  TO-DAY 


307 


common  and  all-powerful  enemy.  Acre  has  survived 
two  more  sieges  since  Napoleon^s  time.  It  was 
sacked  and  burnt  by  Ibrahim  Pasha  after  a  long 
and  bloody  siege,  and  the  present  walls  were  partially 
rebuilt  by  him  when  he  took  it — finally,  it  was  taken 
after  a  bombardment  of  two  hours  by  ships  of  the 
united  fleets  of  England,  Austria,  Turkey,  and  Kussia 
combining  to  aid  the  Porte  to  drive  out  Ibrahim 
Pasha  in  1840,  and  if  you  walk  around  its  walls 
to-day  you  will  find  ancient  cannon-balls  in  the 
moat  to  carry  home,  if  you  care  for  such  historic 
impedimenta,  not  to  speak  of  hundreds  of  guns. 

Underneath  the  present  hospital  —  once  the 
Hospital  of  the  Knights  of  St.  John— I  found  their 
church,  which  strange  to  say,  is  not  mentioned  in  any 
guide-books.  It  is  used  as  a  stable  and  receptacle 
for  rubbish,  which  has  so  accumulated  as  to  raise  the 
level  of  the  floor  and  bury  the  lower  portion  of  the 
arches,  but  the  solid  masonry  of  the  arched  roof 
is  like  that  of  all  Crusading  churches  I  have  seen. 
Photography  in  the  semi-darkness  of  the  interior 
was  particularly  difficult  because  of  the  movements 
of  a  horse  tied  to  one  of  the  pillars,  which  we  were 
loth  to  remove  as  it  shows  the  present  uses  of  the 
consecrated  building;  and,  to  crown  all,  half  the 
Arab  boys  in  Acre  were  crowding  the  windows 
opening  on  to  the  street  and  obhterating  what 
little  light  there  was  within. 

There  is  another  Crusaders'  church  in  the  walls, 
and  the  modern  mosque  was  built  with  ancient 
materials.  Tourists  rarely  visit  Acre,  even  those 
who  land  at  Haifa  on  their  way  to  Gahlee  fail  to 
spare  a  day  for  this  historic  spot,  the  reason  of  this 
probably  being  that  it  has  few  Bibhcal  associations, 


being  mentioned  under  the  Greek  name  of  Ptolemais 
only  once  in  the  Old  Testament  and  once  in  the  New 
(Acts  xxi.  7),  in  the  account  of  St.  Paul's  journey 
to  Jerusalem.  But  if  rocks  and  stones  could  speak, 
what  war  tales  they  could  tell  us  of  "  the  Key  of 
Palestine ! ''  Long  after  Eichard's  time  Acre  was 
the  chief  seat  of  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem  and  the 
headquarters  of  the  MiUtary  Orders— the  Knights 
Templars,  the  Knights  of  St.  John,  and  the  Teutonic 
orders— when  it  finally  surrendered  to  the  Moslems 
its  fall  was  tragic.  Gibbon  has  described  it  in  a  pen- 
picture  that  brings  the  sad  scenes  of  those  last  days 
of  Christian  Acre  before  us  very  vividly. 

"  After  a  siege  of  thirty-three  days  the  double 
wall  was  forced  by  the  Moslems;  the  principal 
tower  yielded  to  their  engines;  the  Mamelukes 
made  a  general  assault ;  the  city  was  stormed  and 
death  or  slavery  was  the  lot  of  60,000  Christians. 
The  convent  or,  rather,  fortress  of  the  Templars  re- 
sisted three  days  longer  ;  but  the  Grand  Master  was 
pierced  by  an  arrow ;  and  of  500  knights  only  ten 
were  left  alive— less  happy  than  the  victims  of  the 
sword  for  they  lived  to  suffer  on  a  scaffold  in  the 
unjust  and  cruel  proscription  of  the  whole  order. 

The  King  of  Jerusalem  and  the  grand  master  of 
the  Hospital  effected  their  retreat  to  the  shore; 
but  the  sea  was  rough,  the  vessels  were  insufficient, 
and  great  numbers  of  the  fugitives  were  drowned 
before  they  could  reach  the  isle  of  Cyprus. 

Those  2500  prisoners  whom  Richard  slew 
before  the  walls  of  Acre  had  cried  aloud  one 
hundred  years  for  vengeance,  and  they  were  most 
terribly  avenged  on  the  very  spot  on  which  they 
suffered  1 


I 


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RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


I  sat  down  on  the  grass  among  the  wild  flowers 
that  grew  upon  the  ancient  walls  to  muse  on  these 
things ;  on  one  side  was  the  harbour  now  choked  with 
sand,  where  the  fleets  of  the  Genoese  and  the  Pisans 
rode  at  anchor,  on  the  other  the  flowery  plain  that 
is  a  swamp  in  winter,  and  has  been  drenched  so  often 
in  blood  that  the  scarlet  anemones  that  grow  there 
seemed  emblematic  and  brought  to  my  mind  the 
words  of  the  Persian  poet — 

"I  sometimes   think  that  never  grows   the  rose  so  red  aa  where 
some  buried  Caesar  bled. 
That  every  violet  the  garden  wears  springs  in  its  bed  from  some 
once  lovely  head." 

I  looked  down  the  dwindling  coast-line  to  the 
south  and  thought  of  the  poor  pilgrims  of  that 
vast  Crusading  army  struggling  bhndly  forward, 
oppressed  with  heavy  burdens,  sick,  suffering,  fight- 
ing as  they  went,  but  inspired  by  the  vision  of  the 
Holy  City  before  them— and  that  march  from  Acre 
seemed  to  me  an  allegory  of  life  ! 

I  have  said  that  to  reach  Acre  from  the  south 
the  Kishon  must  be  forded.  It  was  by  the  banks  of 
this  stream  that  the  Crusading  army  encamped  for 
the  night  after  leaving  Acre  — a  strangely  unpro- 
tected place,  open  on  all  sides  to  the  attacks  of  the 
enemy  it  seems,  as  we  view  it  to-day,  but  the  fresh- 
water supply  was  priceless,  and  doubtless  after  the 
attack  of  the  enemy  the  stragglers  could  be  got 
no  farther  before  night  fell.  The  river  here  runs 
between  banks  of  soft  soil  which  would  easily  give 
way  and  become  a  quagmire  after  rain;  moreover, 
the  bottom  is  very  soft,  so  it  is  probable  that  Richard's 
baggage  narrowly  escaped  the  fate  of  Sisera's  chariots, 
and  at  all  events  considerable  difficulty  would  be 


ACRE  TO  GAZA  TO-DAY 


309 


experienced  in  crossing,  though  the  distance  from 
bank  to  bank  cannot  be  twenty  yards. 

The  next  night  was  spent  at  the  foot  of  Mount 
Carmel,  outside  the  ruined  walls  of  Cayphas 
(Haifa).  The  traveller  who  is  following  in  Richard's 
footsteps  sleeps  on  the  same  spot,  for  Haifa  is  built 
to  the  east  of  the  old  town.  It  is  a  flourishing  httle 
seaport,  and  as  pleasant  a  spot  as  you  can  find  in  all 
Palestine.  The  trade  that  once  was  Acre's  comes 
now  to  Haifa,  and  its  mixed  population  of  Mohamme- 
dans, Latins,  and  Greeks  are  well  to  do.  It  is  curious 
how  the  sanctity  of  Mount  Carmel  is  still  reverenced, 
not  only  by  the  Easterns,  but  by  the  mystics  of  aU 
nations.  When  I  was  told  that  the  prosperous 
German  colony  at  Haifa  had  its  origin  in  the  firm 
belief  of  the  colonist  that  the  Second  Coming  of 
Christ  would  be  on  the  Sacred  Mountain,  and  for 
this  reason  they  had  left  their  native  land  to  be  ready 
to  meet  their  Lord  in  immediate  expectation  of  His 
advent,  I  could  hardly  believe  my  ears — but  such  is 
the  case ! 

The  Germans,  who  were  thus  led  to  the  Holy  Land 
in  f ulfihnent  of  a  sacred  behef ,  have  shown  that  they 
are  not  merely  religious  fanatics,  but  industrious, 
trained  agriculturists,  whose  example  has  been  a 
great  benefit  to  the  community.  May  it  not  be 
because  they  sought  first,  according  to  their  beliefs, 
the  Kingdom  of  God  and  His  righteousness  that  they 
have  been  so  successful  ? 

High  up  on  the  mountain,  overlooking  the  German 
colony  with  its  neat  houses  and  well-cultivated  acres, 
is  the  Carmelite  monastery,  the  mother-house  of  that 
religious  order.  It  is  not,  strictly  speaking,  on 
Richard's  line  of  march,  though  but  a  mile  or  so 


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310 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


distant  from  it — ^history  does  not  record  his  visiting 
it,  yet  I  feel  sure  he  must  have  been  there.  I  can 
imagine  him  stealing  away  from  the  camp  secretly, 
with  that  mingled  love  of  adventure  and  veneration 
for  things  sacred  that  prompted  him  later  to  the 
excursion  in  the  hills,  attended  by  a  few  followers, 
that  brought  him  in  sight  of  Jerusalem — to  visit, 
perhaps  in  the  night,  the  monks  who  claim  the  suc- 
cession from  the  sons  of  the  prophets. 

The  story  of  the  Carmelite  monastery  reads  like  a 
romance.  "  Ehjah  left  to  EKsha  not  only  his  mantle, 
but  his  grotto ;  to  Elisha  succeeded  the  sons  of  the 
prophets,  who  are  the  ancestors  of  St.  John.  After 
the  death  of  Christ  the  monks  who  inhabited  it  passed 
from  the  written  law  to  the  law  of  grace.  Three 
hundred  years  later  St.  Basil  and  his  successors  gave 
them  particular  rules.  At  the  time  of  the  Crusades 
they  abandoned  the  Greek  for  the  Eoman  ritual ;  and 
from  St.  Louis  to  Napoleon  the  convent  built  upon 
the  same  spot  was  open  to  travellers  of  every  rehgion 
and  country."  First  plundered  by  the  Turks  after 
Napoleon's  defeat  at  Acre,  because  it  had  offered 
succour  to  French  soldiers,  and  afterwards  blown 
up  by  order  of  the  Pasha,  it  must  have  seemed  that 
the  home  of  the  Carmehtes  could  never  rise  again. 
Not  the  outcry  of  outraged  Christendom,  not  the 
influence  of  Pope  or  Cardinal  or  any  one  of  authority 
accompUshed  the  miracle,  but  the  indomitable 
spirit  of  one  lay-brother,  who,  starting  penniless,  with 
nothing  to  rely  on  but  faith  in  God,  obtained  through 
the  French  ambassador  a  firman  from  the  Sultan 
for  rebuilding  his  beloved  monastery,  and  then  set 
out  on  foot  to  beg  through  Asia,  Africa,  and  Europe 
the  funds  (according  to  his  own  estimate  350,000 


ACRE  TO  GAZA  TO-DAY 


311 


francs)  which  would  be  needed.  His  faith,  being  of  the 
working  order,  met  its  rewards.  After  fourteen 
years  of  ceaseless  toil  and  privation  he  had  succeeded 
beyond  his  hopes — ^half  a  million  of  francs  had  been 
collected  by  his  exertions,  and  the  stateliest  monastery 
in  the  Holy  Land  rose,  like  a  sphinx  from  the  ashes, 
to  show  that  the  spirit  of  Christianity  could  not  be 
destroyed  by  the  flames  that  had  consumed  the 
earUer  building.  If  the  Gospel  of  Christ  were  always 
preached  by  deeds  such  as  that  of  Jean  Battista, 
whose  only  monument  is  an  inscription  in  the  church 
he  built,  it  might  have  had  more  effect  on  the 
world. 

A  traveller  who  visited  the  monastery  on  Mount 
Carmel  over  forty  years  ago  has  said,  "  Here  is  a 
house  that  would  not  disgrace  royalty,  here  are 
good  monks  whose  genial  bonhomie  a  cowl  cannot 
disguise,  here  is  air  cool  and  bracing  during  the 
hottest  summer  day,  and  here  is  a  situation  com- 
manding a  semicircle  of  sea  with  a  long  line  of  in- 
dented coast.*' 

The  situation  is  truly  superb,  for  the  view  ex- 
tends to  Tyre  on  the  north — with  its  memories  of 
its  haughty  Lord,  the  Marquis  of  Montferrat,  and 
Richard's  most  deadly  foe  during  hfe  (though,  dying, 
he  gave  directions  that  his  castle  should  be  given  up 
to  no  one  save  the  King) — to  Caesarea  on  the  south. 

Not  far  from  the  main  building  is  a  httle  chapel 
that  has  a  special  interest  for  Enghsh  people,  for  it 
commemorates  an  Enghshman,  St.  Simon  Stock, 
who  in  the  Middle  Ages  became  general  of  the  order. 

There  was  but  one  British  subject,  an  Irishman 
lately  out  from  home,  among  the  monks  when  we 
visited  the  monastery,  and  it  was  his  special  duty 


312 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


ACRE  TO  GAZA  TO-DAY 


313 


to  receive  guests  and  give  information  to  visitors. 
From  time  immemorial  the  monks  on  Carmel  have 
welcomed  guests  without  distinction  of  race  or 
creed  and  given  them  accommodation  of  the  best, 
leaving  it  to  their  guests  to  make  such  a  return  as 
seems  fitting  to  them. 

Leisurely  travellers  should  not  fail  to  spend  a  day 
or  two  on  Mount  Carmel— the  higher  slopes  are 
covered  with  oak  trees  and  have  a  dense  under- 
growth of  hawthorns,  myrtle,  and  acacia,  while 
aromatic  herbs  and  sweet-scented  flowers  carpet 
the  ground,  so  that  the  air  in  spring  is  heavy  with 
fragrance.  To  those  coming  from  the  barren  hills 
of  Judea  these  flowery  hills  and  vales  seem  an 
earthly  paradise. 

To  a  student  of  the  Third  Crusade  one  of  the 
most  interesting  sights  on  Carmel  is  the  ruins  which 
mark  the  site  of  Saladin's  camp,  and  from  which  there 
is  a  magnificent  view  over  the  blue  waters  of  the  Bay 
of  Acre,  with  the  town  in  the  distance  and  the  plain 
of  Kishon  beneath,  and  "  plainly  visible  the  famous 
well  for  the  possession  of  which  Saladin  and  Coeur 
de  Lion  fought.''  The  ruined  fort  is  known  as 
Eushmea;  the  walls  enclose  a  considerable  space, 
and  they  surmount  a  hill  whose  sides  form  seven 
distinct  terraces,  so  would  have  been  exceedingly 
difficult  to  carry  by  assault,  and  the  numerous  caves 
on  the  summit  would  afford  shelter  and  storerooms 
of  great  use  to  Saladin's  forces,  while  from  this 
eagle  eyrie  he  could  watch  every  movement  of  the 
enemy. 

Between  eight  and  nine  miles  south  of  Haifa  we 
come  to  Athlit,  which  has  seen  almost  as  many 
vicissitudes  as  Acre,  though  it  is  to-day  only  an  un- 


important village  known  to  the  world  generally  only 
on  account  of  the  Kothschilds'  colony  there. 

It  is  easy  to  make  out  what  a  strong  position  AthUt 
formerly  occupied  in  its  rocky  mountain  spur  be- 
tween two  bays,  with  an  outer  wall  with  towers  and 
a  moat  that  fiUed  from  the  sea.  Underground,  I  was 
told,  are  immense  vaults  with  groined  roofs.  The 
earUest  records  of  AthUt  date  from  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury, but  experts  say  part  of  the  substructures  of  the 
oldest  buildings  are  Roman.  Opposite  the  ruins 
a  deep  cutting  about  8  feet  wide  leads  to  the  plain, 
and  on  the  cliffs,  perched  overhead,  are  the  remains 
of  towers  which  once  guarded  the  pass. 

Now  we  come  to  Caesarea,  which  Ues  aside  from 
the  main  highway  to  Jaffa,  but  can  be  reached,  if  the 
roads  are  in  good  condition,  in  less  than  two  hours 
from  the  point  where  the  bridle  path  turns  off.  Of  this 
once  great  city  which  marked  a  new  era  of  expansion 
in  the  Jewish  nation,  because  Herod,  the  King  of  the 
Jews,  built  this  coast  town  to  open  up  communica- 
tion with  the  Gentile  nations  (from  which  Israel  had 
previously  held  aloof),  there  remains  nothing  but 
ruins,  and  these  are  largely  of  the  Crusaders'  period. 
Some  remains  of  the  temple  erected  by  Herod  in 
honour  of  Caesar  have  been  identified,  and  beyond 
the  gate  of  the  medieval  wall  you  can  trace  the  great 
amphitheatre  that  was  the  scene  of  God's  judgment 
of  the  arrogance  of  another  Herod — ^the  grandson 
of  the  founder— when  in  the  very  hey-day  of  his  pomp 
and  glory  he  was  smitten  with  death,  because  "  he 
gave  not  God  the  glory  "  (Acts  xii.  20,  23). 

Many  many  are  the  memories  that  crowd  upon 
us  as  we  stand  within  the  walls  of  this  ghostly  city 
of  the  past,  that  throbbed  with  such  vivid  life  in  the 


i > 


I'll 


312 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


ACRE  TO  GAZA  TO-DAY 


313 


to  receive  guests  and  give  information  to  visitors. 
From  time  inmiemorial  the  monks  on  Carmel  have 
welcomed  guests  without  distinction  of  race  or 
creed  and  given  them  accommodation  of  the  best, 
leaving  it  to  their  guests  to  make  such  a  return  as 
seems  fitting  to  them. 

Leisurely  travellers  should  not  fail  to  spend  a  day 
or  two  on  Mount  Carmel — ^the  higher  slopes  are 
covered  with  oak  trees  and  have  a  dense  under- 
growth of  hawthorns,  myrtle,  and  acacia,  while 
aromatic  herbs  and  sweet-scented  flowers  carpet 
the  ground,  so  that  the  air  in  spring  is  heavy  with 
fragrance.  To  those  coming  from  the  barren  hills 
of  Judea  these  flowery  hills  and  vales  seem  an 
earthly  paradise. 

To  a  student  of  the  Third  Crusade  one  of  the 
most  interesting  sights  on  Carmel  is  the  ruins  which 
mark  the  site  of  Saladin's  camp,  and  from  which  there 
is  a  magnificent  view  over  the  blue  waters  of  the  Bay 
of  Acre,  with  the  town  in  the  distance  and  the  plain 
of  Kishon  beneath,  and  "  plainly  visible  the  famous 
well  for  the  possession  of  which  Saladin  and  Coeur 
de  Lion  fought.''  The  ruined  fort  is  known  as 
Rushmea;  the  walls  enclose  a  considerable  space, 
and  they  surmount  a  hill  whose  sides  form  seven 
distinct  terraces,  so  would  have  been  exceedingly 
difficult  to  carry  by  assault,  and  the  numerous  caves 
on  the  smnmit  would  afford  shelter  and  storerooms 
of  great  use  to  Saladin's  forces,  while  from  this 
eagle  eyrie  he  could  watch  every  movement  of  the 
enemy. 

Between  eight  and  nine  miles  south  of  Haifa  we 
come  to  AthUt,  which  has  seen  almost  as  many 
vicissitudes  as  Acre,  though  it  is  to-day  only  an  un- 


important village  known  to  the  world  generally  only 
on  account  of  the  Rothschilds'  colony  there. 

It  is  easy  to  make  out  what  a  strong  position  AthUt 
formerly  occupied  in  its  rocky  mountain  spur  be- 
tween two  bays,  with  an  outer  wall  with  towers  and 
a  moat  that  filled  from  the  sea.  Underground,  I  was 
told,  are  immense  vaults  with  groined  roofs.  The 
eariiest  records  of  AthUt  date  from  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury, but  experts  say  part  of  the  substructures  of  the 
oldest  buildings  are  Roman.  Opposite  the  ruins 
a  deep  cutting  about  8  feet  wide  leads  to  the  plain, 
and  on  the  cliffs,  perched  overhead,  are  the  remains 
of  towers  which  once  guarded  the  pass. 

Now  we  come  to  Caesarea,  which  lies  aside  from 
the  main  highway  to  Jaffa,  but  can  be  reached,  if  the 
roads  are  in  good  condition,  in  less  than  two  hours 
from  the  point  where  the  bridle  path  turns  off.  Of  this 
once  great  city  which  marked  a  new  era  of  expansion 
in  the  Jewish  nation,  because  Herod,  the  King  of  the 
Jews,  built  this  coast  town  to  open  up  communica- 
tion with  the  Gentile  nations  (from  which  Israel  had 
previously  held  aloof),  there  remains  nothing  but 
ruins,  and  these  are  largely  of  the  Crusaders'  period. 
Some  remains  of  the  temple  erected  by  Herod  in 
honour  of  Caesar  have  been  identified,  and  beyond 
the  gate  of  the  medieval  wall  you  can  trace  the  great 
amphitheatre  that  was  the  scene  of  God's  judgment 
of  the  arrogance  of  another  Herod — ^the  grandson 
of  the  founder— when  in  the  very  hey-day  of  his  pomp 
and  glory  he  was  smitten  with  death,  because  '*  he 
gave  not  God  the  glory  "  (Acts  xii.  20,  23). 

Many  many  are  the  memories  that  crowd  upon 
us  as  we  stand  within  the  walls  of  this  ghostly  city 
of  the  past,  that  throbbed  with  such  vivid  life  in  the 


314 


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315 


earliest  days  of  Christianity.  Here  Philip  came  and 
laboured  at  the  end  of  the  long  missionTry  journey 
through  the  cities  of  the  plain,  during  which  he  had 
met  and  baptized  the  eunuch ;  here  Peter  came  from 
Joppa  after  the  vision  that  had  told  him  the  "  King- 
dom of  Heaven  "  was  not  to  be  Umited  to  the  Jew!, 
and  baptized  the  first  Gentile  convert  CorneUus,  and 
here  Paul  was  brought  as  a  prisoner  and  preached 
that  wonderful  sermon  that  made  the  Eoman 
governor  tremble  — here  he  "  ahnost  persuaded" 
King  Agrippa  to  be  a  Christian,  and  here  his 
weep'ingSwers  saw  him  set  sail  ^  testify  for  his 
faith  in  Rome.  If  you  scramble  along  the  ridge  of 
rock  that  runs  out  into  the  sea,  forming  a  natural 
harbour  that  was  enlarged  by  Herod,  you  will  see 
beneath  the  clear  water  huge  blocks  of  Roman 
masonry  that  formed  part  of  the  pier  from  which 
the  apostle  embarked.  The  harbour  of  Caesarea  in 
those  days  was  equal  in  extent  to  that  of  the  Piraeus, 
and  there  was  an  immense  breakwater  with  towers 
to  protect  the  ships  from  western  and  south-western 
gales,  and  a  broad  quay,  which  was  the  town  pro- 
menade as  well  as  landing-place. 

In  all  Palestine  there  is  no  such  harbour  to-day, 
and  even  its  remains  are  worth  coming  to  see.  Strange 
that  so  few  travellers  leave  the  beaten  track  to  recall 
the  past  glories  of  a  place  that  has  so  much  Bible 
history  written  in  its  stones.  If  ever  I  visit  Palestine 
again  I  shall  lay  my  plans  to  camp  at  Caesarea,  for  it 
is  easier  to  conjure  up  the  past  in  the  magic  hours 
of  twilight  and  dawn  than  in  the  full  Ught  of  day. 

I  do  not  doubt  that  Richard  thought  of  these 
things  when  he  camped  there,  even  in  the  midst  of 
war  alarms.    The  walls  you  see  to-day  on  the  land 


side  of  the  medieval  city  are  the  Crusaders'  work  as 
well  as  the  moat,  but  many  stones  have  been  carried 
away  to  be  used  as  building  material  at  Acre  and 
elsewhere;  yet  you  can  still  trace  the  Crusaders' 
church  with  three  apses  within  the  walls. 

Even  less  remains  of  Arsuf,  where  took  place 
such  slaughter  when  Saladin's  army,  30,000  strong, 
swooped  down  upon  the  Crusaders  on  the  march — ^the 
battlefield  of  Arsuf  is  reached  in  four  to  five  hours' 
ride  from  Caesarea  on  the  way  to  Jaffa,  but  the 
carriage  road  does  not  pass  it  direct. 

After  that  battle  in  which  contemporary 
writers  say  7000  of  the  Christian  host  perished, 
the  remainder  rested  and  found  the  refreshment 
they  so  sorely  needed  in  the  orange  groves  and 
gardens  of  Jaffa.  The  orange  groves  are  there  still, 
and  if  you  approach  the  town  on  the  land  side  it 
will  be  for  half  a  mile  through  orchards.  Jaffa  offers 
nothing  to  tempt  travellers  to  Knger  there  to-day — 
Hke  all  Oriental  towns,  it  is  most  attractive  from  a 
distance,  and  travellers  approaching  it  by  sea  will 
remember  it  as  a  place  where  there  is  a  dehghtful 
uncertainty  about  landing  at  all,  or  leaving  again 
when  you  have  once  landed.  This  is  due  to  the  fact 
that  Jaffa  has  no  harbour,  and  only  under  favourable 
circumstances  steamers  can  land  their  passengers, 
as  ledges  of  jagged  rock  run  out  into  the  sea  with 
only  a  narrow  channel  between,  through  which 
surf  boats  rowed  by  Arab  boatmen  are  navi- 
gated. The  sea  gets  up  so  quickly  that  passengers 
anxious  to  catch  their  steamer  not  infrequently 
come  from  Jerusalem  over  night,  and  sleep  at  Jaffa 
to  be  able  to  get  on  board  early  in  the  morning, 
when  the  sea  is  usually  calmer  than  later  in  the  day. 


II"'  n. 


316 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


''I 


Under  the  most  favourable  circumstances  you  are 
Beized  by  the  boatmen  and  hoisted  up  or  down,  as 
the  case  may  be,  in  or  out  of  the  boats  like  a  bale 
of  goods,  and  if  your  unlucky  star  is  in  the  ascendant 
you  ma;  be  ca4d  on  to  Egypt  (and  have  to  pay 
your  fare  there  and  back  for  your  sins)  without  seeing 
more  of  Jaffa  than  a  line  of  white  houses  on  the 
shore  a  couple  of  miles  distant.  The  Turks  of  the  old 
regime  opposed  the  blowing  up  of  the  dangerous  rocks 
lest  their  removal  should  facilitate  the  landing  of 
an  enemy,  and  so  far  the  young  Turks  have  taken 
no  steps  to  show  that  their  policy  is  more  up  to 
date  as  regards  the  landing  here.  From  Jaffa,  Tfter 
long  delay— caused  by  the  division  of  opinion  among 
the  leaders  of  the  a4y  as  to  whether  they  should 
first  hasten  to  Ascalon  to  hinder  the  demoUtion 
of  the  walls,  or  push  on  to  Jerusalem — Richard  took 
the  road  by  Lydda  and  Ramleh  towards  the  Holy 
Gty.  and  reached  Beit  Nuba  for  the  first  time. 

It  is  not  very  widely  known  that  Lydda  was 
the  seat  of  an  Early  Christian  community  and  is 
mentioned  in  the  Acts.  A  church  stood  here  over 
the  tomb  of  St.  George  as  early  as  the  sixth  century, 
and  the  Crusaders  found  a  "magnificent  tomb," 
and  proceeded  in  the  latter  half  of  the  twelfth 
century  to  build  a  new  church  near  the  old  one. 
which  had  durmg  the  centuries  been  more  than  once 
destroyed.  Their  new  church  shared  in  the  general 
destruction  of  the  town  by  Saladin  in  1191,  but  you 
can  see  remains  of  it  in  the  apses  and  a  few  arches 
and  pilasters  of  the  west  side  of  the  present  building. 

If  you  would  see  Lydda  and  Ramleh  on  your 
way  to  Jerusalem,  and  intend  going  by  train  to  the 
Holy  City  (which  is,  however,  fatal  to  the  spirit  of 


ENGLISH   POSSESSIONS   IN   FRANCE  OF  RICHARD  I. 


iifjjaiipy 


*' 


ACRE  TO  GAZA  TO-DAY 


319 


pilgrimage  in  which  you  ought  to  approach  it),  you 
must  drive  as  far  as  Ramleh,  or  sleep  there,  as  there 
is  only  one  train  daily,  and  put  up  at  the  Franciscan 
monastery,  where  you  may  happen  to  be  given  a 
room  which  was  once  inhabited  by  Napoleon. 

Eamleh  is  a  poor  Uttle  place,  but  it  is  surrounded 
by  luxuriant  orchards,  and  a  few  pahn  trees  lend  it 
picturesqueness.  Unimportant  though  it  looks  to- 
day, it  was  the  seat  of  a  bishopric  a  hundred  years 
before  Kichard  landed  on  the  shores  of  Palestine, 
and  an  important  station  on  the  great  caravan  route 
from  Damascus  to  Egypt,  as  well  as  on  the  road 
from  Joppa  to  Jerusalem.  The  Crusaders'  church, 
now  a  mosque,  is  well  worth  a  visit  if  the  Moslems 
will  perniit  it,  which  is  not  always  the  case.  "  The 
White  Mosque''  is  equally  interesting,  and  its 
beautiful  tower  is  beheved  by  many  authorities  to 
be  the  work  of  the  Crusaders,  in  spite  of  the  inscrip- 
tion over  the  door,  which  gives  it  a  later  date.  From 
the  gallery  at  the  top  (added  in  the  seventeenth 
century)  there  is  a  lovely  view  of  the  fertile  plain 
stretching  from  the  Mediterranean  to  the  blue 
mountains  of  Judaea. 

Between  Ramleh  and  Beit  Nuba  the  character  of 
the  country  wholly  changes,  the  fertile  plain  is  left 
behind  for  the  barren  hill  country  that  stretches  all 
the  way  to  Jerusalem.  It  was  from  Beit  Nuba 
that  Richard  ascended  Nebi  Samwil,  the  highest 
mountain  around  Jerusalem,  the  Mizpah  of  the  Old 
Testament,  and  the  traditional  burial-place  of 
Samuel. 

Here,  where  the  Jews  chose  Saul  to  be  their 
King,  came  that  other  King  who  had  fought  his 
way  thousands  of  miles  across  land  and  sea  to 


iWP 


320 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


ACRE  TO  GAZA  TO-DAY 


321 


look  upon  the  Holy  City  he  sought  to  save  and 
was  not  permitted  to  enter.  Strange  irony  of  fate 
that  so  renowned  a  warrior  and  so  great  a  King 
failed  in  the  mission  he  believed  divine !  Never 
did  he  even  see  Jerusalem  from  afar — early  in  the 
morning  he  ascended  alone  to  the  mountain-top — 
the  hills  of  Judea,  which  rise  behind  Jerusalem, 
would  be  dark  at  that  hour  against  a  sky  tinted  as 
I  have  so  often  seen  it  with  the  first  flush  of  dawn. 
The  rising  sun  would  gild  the  white  walls  and  the 
great  dome  above  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  but  Kichard 
saw  nothing  of  all  this — at  this  moment  his  pride 
was  humbled  to  the  dust — ^he  felt  his  own  un- 
worthiness  for  the  task  he  had  set  before  him  when 
he  sailed  for  the  Far  East — ^he  bowed  his  head 
behind  his  shield  and  would  not  look  upon  the 
city  he  had  failed  to  free  from  the  Moslem  yoke. 
Never  does  our  sjnnpathy  go  out  more  truly  to 
the  luckless  "  Lion  Hearted ""  than  in  that  moment 
of  his  self-abnegation ! 

What  King  Richard  might  have  seen  I  was 
permitted  to  see  one  spring  day  not  long  ago 
from  Nebi  Samwil — to  the  eastward  rugged  hills 
covered  with  scanty  herbage  with  just  one  lonely 
village  of  flat-topped  houses  on  the  hillside — beyond 
on  a  higher  ridge  the  domes  and  towers  of  Jerusalem 
— a  little  beyond  that,  to  the  south-east,  the  Mount 
of  Olives,  and  faint  in  the  distance  the  mountains 
of  Moab  beyond  the  Jordan.  To-day  the  Mount 
of  Olives  is  crowned  by  the  towers  of  the  Russian 
and  German  hospices,  but  in  the  twelfth  century 
the  Kne  of  the  hiUs  was  unbroken  by  any  building 
— ^but  for  this  the  countryside  has  altered  not  at 
all.    The  peace  and  silence  of  the  hills  wrapped 


about  the  broken-hearted  King  as  it  wrapped  me 
about  after  the  lapse  of  seven  centuries.  Beneath 
the  summit  of  the  mountain  the  lower  hills  roll 
away  to  the  horizon  in  billowy  waves  of  green  grass 
broken  by  patches  of  grey  rock,  over  the  hills 
thirty  miles  away  to  the  westward  shine  the  distant 
waters  of  the  Mediterranean — all  this  is  unchanged — 
King  Richard  saw  it  as  I  saw  it ! 

After  Acre  and  Jaffa,  Ascalon  calls  up  more 
stirring  memories  of  Coeur  de  Lion's  indomitable 
courage  than  any  other  spot  in  Palestine — ^the 
rebuilding  of  its  walls,  under  almost  insurmoimtable 
difficulties,  was  a  wonderful  feat,  and  it  adds  no 
little  interest  to  its  crumbUng  masonry  that  some 
of  those  stones  may  actually  have  been  placed  in 
position  by  the  hands  of  Richard  himself,  who,  we 
know,  worked  at  these  walls  like  a  common  mason 
to  encourage  his  followers. 

The  situation  of  Ascalon — or  rather  of  the  site 
where  Ascalon  once  was — ^is  unique ;  the  city  was 
built  in  a  semicircular  space  by  the  sea  and  backed 
by  a  ridge  of  rock  which  swept  inland  in  a  curve 
from  the  chffs  as  if  to  form  a  natural  protection 
to  it  on  the  land  side ;  the  walls  were  built  along 
the  top  of  this  ridge,  and  the  principal  entrance, 
the  Jerusalem  gate,  was  at  the  centre  of  the  apex, 
and  here  you  may  still  enter  by  scrambling  up  to  it 
through  heaps  of  stones  and  rubbish,  with  here 
and  there  marble  columns,  and  have  the  most 
impressive  view  of  the  ruined  city  of  which  the 
Old  Testament  prophecies,  "  Ashkelon  shall  be  a 
desolation  "  (Zeph.  ii.  4)  and  "  Ashkelon  shall  not 
be  inhabited ''  (Zech.  ix.  5),  have  been  so  literally 
fulfilled.    The   South   or  Gaza   gate   can  still  be 


322 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


ACRE  TO  GAZA  TO-DAY 


323 


i' 


made  out,  but  the  northern  ramparts  are  so  over- 
grown with  a  tangle  of  fruit  trees  and  cactus  hedges 
as  to  be  ahnost  indistinguishable.  Here,  hidden 
in  the  orchards,  may  be  found  fragments  of  columns, 
statues,  and  remains  of  Christian  churches,  telhng 
their  own  story  of  the  prosperity  of  Ascalon  in 
Roman  times,  when  it  was  the  key  to  Egypt  and 
enjoyed  the  freedom  of  a  republic  under  Roman 
protection.  It  is  not  the  least  interesting  feature 
of  the  ruins  that  no  less  than  forty  cisterns  of  good 
water  have  been  found  within  their  precincts.  With 
such  a  water-supply  and  the  shelter  from  winter 
winds,  little  wonder  that  Ascalon  was  a  garden  city 
where  vines,  olives,  and  fruit  trees  of  all  kinds  grew 
luxuriantly.  It  is  curious  that  the  inhabitants  of 
the  next  village,  El-Jora,  still  cultivate  the  particular 
onion  which  was  once  so  plentiful  in  the  gardens 
of  Jaffa  that  they  were  named  by  the  Romans 
Ascalonia  after  this  city,  and  have  become  famous 
throughout  the  world  by  their  French  name  of 
shalot. 

To  follow  in  Richard's  footsteps  will  take  you 
much  farther  south  in  Palestine  than  the  ordinary 
traveller,  along  the  great  caravan  route  to  the  borders 
of  the  Egyptian  desert.  You  may  make  your  head- 
quarters at  Gaza  and  from  there  visit  the  ruins 
of  Darum,  three  or  four  hours  farther  south.  It 
is  hard  to-day  to  picture  it  the  strong  frontier 
fortress  with  seventeen  towers,  whose  possession 
was  of  such  great  importance  to  Richard  in  order 
to  break  the  enemy's  overland  communication 
with  Egypt  that  his  military  ardour  led  to  a  display 
of  savagery  towards  its  garrison  that  is  unworthy 
of  his  fame. 


Gaza  has  a  Latin  hospice  (under  German 
management)  where  travellers  can  stay,  and,  like 
all  frontier  towns,  has  a  peculiar  interest.  The 
Egyptian  influence  is  shown  in  the  bazaar,  and  the 
Moslem  women  are  generally  veiled  after  the  fashion 
of  Egypt.  The  Bedouins,  too,  are  an  interesting 
feature  of  this  town  bordering  the  desert;  they 
come  to  the  market  to  buy  supplies  of  dates,  figs, 
olives,  and  other  fruits,  for  round  the  town  are 
olive  groves  and  extensive  gardens  hedged  by 
prickly  pears,  where  apricot  and  mulberry  trees 
flourish  and  the  rich  soil  gives  plentiful  crops  of 
melons  and  cucumbers.  From  the  Mukam  el 
Muntar,  the  highest  point  of  a  range  of  hills  about 
half  an  hour  to  the  east,  there  is  a  deUghtful  view 
of  the  picturesque  town  peeping  out  from  the 
mantle  of  green  that  enfolds  it,  and  away  across 
white  sandy  downs,  where  vegetation  ceases,  to 
the  Mediterranean.  To  the  south  the  view,  if  less 
beautiful,  is  even  more  inspiring,  for  before  you  lies 
the  road  to  that  mysterious  land  of  Egypt  trodden 
by  the  Pharaohs  thousands  of  years  ago,  running  on 
a  white  meandering  line  till  it  disappears  in  Wady 
Sheriah.  We  can  trace  the  wady  far  across  the 
desert  to  Beersheba,  where  Abraham  and  Isaac 
once  fed  their  flocks  in  the  pasturelands  along  its 
banks.  It  was  near  Gaza  that  Richard  met  the 
envoys  from  England  bringing  letters  which  told 
of  John's  treachery — perhaps  here  also  that  the 
chaplain  pleaded  with  him  not  to  return  home  till 
he  had  accompHshed  his  sacred  mission. 

The  return  journey  from  Gaza  to  Jerusalem  can 
be  made  by  way  of  Beit  Jibrin  and  Tell  es  Safieh,  the 
Blanche  Garde  or  Blanca  Guarda  of  the  Crusaders. 


324 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


ACRE  TO  GAZA  TO-DAY 


325 


The  road  crosses  a  range  of  hills  before  coming 
to  Beit  Jibrin,  and  gives  us  a  fine  view  of  it  in 
advance.  Though  now  only  a  Mohammedan  village 
of  less  than  a  thousand  inhabitants,  Beit  Jibrin 
has  a  history  that  goes  back  far  beyond  the  time 
when  Fulk  of  Anjou  built  a  castle  there,  for  it  is 
identical  with  the  IsraeHtish  town  Mareshah 
fortified  by  Rehoboam  (2  Chron.  xi.  8).  It  was 
the  seat  of  a  Christian  bishopric  as  early  as  the 
fourth  century,  but  in  the  eighth  destroyed  by 
the  Mohammedans.  Four  hundred  years  later  the 
Crusaders  found  it  in  ruins  and  built  a  fortress  on 
the  old  foundations— one  of  the  girdle  of  fortifica- 
tions Fulk  erected  to  keep  watch  over  the  move- 
ments of  the  Mohammedan  garrison  of  Ascalon. 
A  part  of  the  ancient  wall  still  exists,  as  well  as 
fragments  of  old  masonry  of  the  east  and  north- 
west forts  forming  part  of  a  later  building.  But 
many  places  can  show  ruins  more  perfectly  preserved 
and  of  greater  interest.  Beit  Jibrin  has  what  no  other 
place  in  Palestine  can  boast— a  most  remarkable 
series  of  Rock  Caverns,  some  of  which  contain 
painted  tombs.  These  caves  are  very  extensive 
and  quite  unique,  one  at  least  being  nearly  100  feet 
in  length— most  have  domed  roofs  and  are  lighted 
from  above  by  an  aperture.  Many  of  the  apart- 
ments have  niches  cut  in  the  walls,  which  suggest 
that  they  may  have  been  used  as  places  or  sepulchres, 
but  others  connected  with  each  other  may  have 
been  dweUings.  Nothing  definite  seems  to  be  known 
about  them,  and  they  ought  to  be  worth  more 
notice  than  they  have  hitherto  attracted  from 
antiquarians. 

It  is  not  alone  the  ruins  of  Fulk's  castle  crown- 


ing the  hill  that  rivet  our  attention  at  Blanche 
Garde,  but  the  view  from  the  summit  of  the  sur- 
rounding country  which  was  the  scene  of  so  many 
of  the  daring  deeds  and  hairbreadth  escapes  that 
invest  the  story  of  Richard's  adventures  in  Palestine 
with  the  halo  of  romance.    The  whole  plain  lies 
before  us,  stretching  away  on  the  south-west  to 
Gaza  and  Ascalon,  to  the  north  the  White  Tower  of 
Ramleh  is  visible,  and  in  the  east  rise  the  mountams 
of  Judea  hiding  in  their  bosom  the  Holy  City. 
"  Ahnost  every  peak  is  crowned  with  village  or  ruin 
whose  name  carries  us  back  thousands  of  years." 
Yet  the  hill  on  which  we  stand  and  its  ruins  are 
worth    studying,   not    alone   for   students   of   the 
Crusades,  but  of  the  Bible,  for  many  authorities 
hold  that  TeU  el  Safuh— the  Arabic  name  for  Blanche 
Garde— is  identical  with  the  royal  city  of  Gath,  which 
stood  on  the  borders  of  Judah  and  PhiUstia  and 
was  the  scene  of  many  long  and  bloody  struggles 
between  them.    The  large  subterranean  reservours 
in  the  mountain  show  that  this  was  a  site  of  great  im- 
portance and  strength,  and  we  know  that  medie- 
val builders  often  chose  the  site  of  more  ancient 
fortifications,  for,  after  all,  the  rules  of  war  apply 
to  aU  ages,  and  the  site  chosen  by  the  ancients  as 
easy  of  defence  equally  commended  itself  to  men 
of  later  ages. 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


ACRE  TO  GAZA  TO-DAY 


325 


>i 


The  road  crosses  a  range  of  liills  before  coming 
to  Beit  Jibrin,  and  gives  us  a  fine  view  of  it  in 
advance.  Though  now  only  a  Mohammedan  village 
of  less  than  a  thousand  inhabitants,  Beit  Jibrin 
has  a  history  that  goes  back  far  beyond  the  time 
when  Fulk  of  Anjou  built  a  castle  there,  for  it  is 
identical  with  the  Israehtish  town  Mareshah 
fortified  by  Rehoboam  (2  Chron.  xi.  8).  It  was 
the  seat  of  a  Christian  bishopric  as  early  as  the 
fourth  century,  but  in  the  eighth  destroyed  by 
the  Mohammedans.  Four  hundred  years  later  the 
Crusaders  found  it  in  ruins  and  built  a  fortress  on 
the  old  foundations — one  of  the  girdle  of  fortifica- 
tions Fulk  erected  to  keep  watch  over  the  move- 
ments of  the  Mohammedan  garrison  of  Ascalon. 
A  part  of  the  ancient  wall  still  exists,  as  well  as 
fragments  of  old  masonry  of  the  east  and  north- 
west forts  forming  part  of  a  later  building.  But 
many  places  can  show  ruins  more  perfectly  preserved 
and  of  greater  interest.  Beit  Jibrin  has  what  no  other 
place  in  Palestine  can  boast— a  most  remarkable 
series  of  Rock  Caverns,  some  of  which  contain 
painted  tombs.  These  caves  are  very  extensive 
and  quite  unique,  one  at  least  being  nearly  100  feet 
in  length— most  have  domed  roofs  and  are  Ughted 
from  above  by  an  aperture.  Many  of  the  apart- 
ments have  niches  cut  in  the  walls,  which  suggest 
that  they  may  have  been  used  as  places  or  sepulchres, 
but  others  connected  with  each  other  may  have 
been  dwellings.  Nothing  definite  seems  to  be  known 
about  them,  and  they  ought  to  be  worth  more 
notice  than  they  have  hitherto  attracted  from 
antiquarians. 

It  is  not  alone  the  ruins  of  Fulk's  castle  crown- 


ing the  hill  that  rivet  our  attention  at  Blanche 
Garde,  but  the  view  from  the  sunmiit  of  the  sur- 
roimding  country  which  was  the  scene  of  so  many 
of  the  daring  deeds  and  hairbreadth  escapes  that 
invest  the  story  of  Richard's  adventures  in  Palestine 
with  the  halo  of  romance.    The  whole  plain  Ues 
before  us,  stretching  away  on  the  south-west  to 
Gaza  and  Ascalon,  to  the  north  the  White  Tower  of 
Ramleh  is  visible,  and  in  the  east  rise  the  mountains 
of  Judea  hiding  in  their  bosom  the  Holy  City. 
"  Almost  every  peak  is  crowned  with  village  or  ruin 
whose  name  carries  us  back  thousands  of  years." 
Yet  the  hill  on  which  we  stand  and  its  ruins  are 
worth    studying,    not    alone   for   students   of   the 
Crusades,  but  of  the  Bible,  for  many  authorities 
hold  that  TeU  el  Safuh— the  Arabic  name  for  Blanche 
Garde— is  identical  with  the  royal  city  of  Gath,  which 
stood  on  the  borders  of  Judah  and  Philistia  and 
was  the  scene  of  many  long  and  bloody  struggles 
between  them.    The  large  subterranean  reservours 
in  the  mountain  show  that  this  was  a  site  of  great  im- 
portance and  strength,  and  we  know  that  medie- 
val builders  often  chose  the  site  of  more  ancient 
fortifications,  for,  after  all,  the  rules  of  war  apply 
to  aU  ages,  and  the  site  chosen  by  the  ancients  as 
easy  of  defence  equally  commended  itself  to  men 
of  later  ages. 


I 


■MPqilll 


"  T   ■■!.     yJIII.   IIHIJIIIJ 


CHAPTER  III 


CYPRUS 

The    month    of    May,    in    which    Richard    took 
Cyprus  by  storm  and  made  himself  master  of  the 
whole  island  (to  punish   the  self-styled  Emperor, 
Isaac  Comnenus,  for  his  unmannerly  refusal  to  let 
the  distressed  Queen  Joan  and  Berengaria  land,  as 
well  as  for  his  unjust  imprisonment  of  shipwrecked 
Enghsh  sailors),  is  the  best  of  all  times  to  visit  the 
island  if  you  do  not  mind  a  Uttle  heat,  otherwise 
April  is  better  —  eariier  in  the   season  the  winds 
from  the  snow  mountains  are  apt  to  be  very  cold. 
In   April   and    early   May   the    wild   flowers    are 
at  their  best  —  and  their  best  is  something  very 
good  indeed— but  it  is  not  till  the  end  of  May 
that  it  is  possible  to  ascend  Mount  Troodos  and 
see  the  summer  quarters  of  Cyprus  residents  in 
the  hills.  ^ 

Cyprus  is  a  corner  of  our  Empire  that  is  deserving 
of  more  attention  from  the  travelling  world ;  though 
only  twenty-six  hours  distant  from  Port  Said,  the 
Enghsh  world  which  winters  in  Egypt  knows  it  not, 
yet  chmatically  it  offers  an  excellent  haK-way  station 
between  Egypt  and  England,  for  in  early  April,  when 
every  one  who  can  flees  from  the  Nile  on  account 
of  the  heat,  yet  invahds  hnger  m  route  for  home. 

828  ' 


CYPRUS 


327 


fearing  the  uncertainty  of  a  northern  spring,  the 
temperature  of  Cyprus  is  that  which  dwellers  in 
favoured  districts  of  England  look  for  in  May- 
warm  and  sunny,  with  that  feeling  of  "promise 
in  the  air ''  that  is  characteristic  of  the  ideal  spring. 
There  must  be  many  Enghsh  people  who,  did  they 
but  know  what  this  lovely  island  offers,  would  prefer 
the  leisurely  hfe  and  spaciousness  of  Cyprus  to  even 
Italy,  which  is  so  terribly  overcrowded  at  this 
season.  My  visit  to  the  island  took  place  before 
I  had  conceived  the  idea  of  tracing  Coeur  de  Lion's 
wanderings  in  the  East— indeed,  my  travels  in  Cyprus 
went  far  to  deepen  my  interest  in  that  warrior  King, 
so  often  did  I  hear  of  him  and  of  his  queen,  Berengaria, 
in  "the  enchanted  isle.''  Had  I  been  actually 
tracing  his  footsteps  at  the  time,  I  should  have 
chosen  a  route  that  landed  me  at  Limasol  where 
Isaac  Comnenus  drew  up  his  followers  on  the  beach 
to  oppose  the  Crusaders  landing,  and  was  so  in- 
gloriously  defeated  in  his  purpose— as  it  was,  I  had 
my  first  sight  of  Cyprus  off  Famagusta,  from  which 
port,  however,  Richard  sailed  for  Palestine  after  his 
conquest  of  the  island,  so,  after  all,  the  order  of  seeing 
them  is  not  material.  My  first  impression  of  the 
island  from  the  steamer  deck  was  that  of  a  low, 
sandy  coast,  but  far  away  in  the  distance  high 
mountains  were  visible.  On  nearer  approach  to 
Famagusta  I  saw  that  it  is  still  completely  sur- 
rounded by  its  medieval  walls,  and  recalls  that 
wonderful  survival  of  a  fortified  town  on  the  shores 
of  the  Adriatic,  Ragusa,  as  well  as  another  gem  of 
Dahnatia,  the  island  of  Arbe,  and  our  own  sacred 

isle  of  lona. 

Its  Hkeness  to  the  two  last  hes  in  its  ruined  cathe- 


328 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


CYPRUS 


329 


I  ,|J{| 

■ 

I  ■ 


dral  and  churches — one,  it  is  popularly  said,  for  every 
day  in  the  year.    The  cathedral  of  St.  Nicholas,  a 
Gothic  building  of  the  fourteenth  century,  is  especially 
beautiful  seen  from  the  sea  ;  on  nearer  acquaintance 
I  found  it  contains  many  Crusaders'  tombs.    It 
seems  hard  upon  those  who  rest  there  to  be  trodden 
under  foot  by  the  followers  of  the  Prophet  whom 
they  fought  against  so  strenuously  during  life  (for 
St.  Nicholas,  like  many  another  Christian  church  in 
Cyprus,  has  been  turned  into  a  mosque) ;  whitewash 
hides  the  paintings  on  its  walls,  and  the  innumerable 
glass  lamps  suspended  from  the  roof— which  are  a 
feature  of  all  mosques — disfigure  the  interior.    A 
stone,  let  in  one  of  the  buttresses  on  the  south 
side,  records  its  dedication  in  1311,  so  it  is  very 
probable  that  the    building  was    commenced    in 
Richard's    lifetime.     Archaeologists     ascribe     the 
walls  to  the  same  period  as  the  church,  but  they 
must  have  been  added  to  or  repaired  by  the  Venetians, 
as  the  Lion  of  St.  Mark  appears  over  the  sea  gate 
and  on  Othello's  tower.     The  inner  wall  is  very 
wide   and   forms  a  favourite   evening  promenade 
of  the  natives ;  it  was  my  deKght  to  see  the  women 
sitting   on   the  walls    at   sunset,    looking   in   the 
distance  like  flocks  of   deUcate-coloured    tropical 
birds ;  for  the  Moslem  women  of  Cyprus  no  longer 
limit  themselves  to  the  white  garments  which  were 
once  their  universal  wear,  nor  have  they  adopted, 
I  am  glad  to  say,  the  depressing  black  robes  of  the 
veiled  women  of  Egypt,  but  affect  soft  shades  of 
pink  and  blue  and  yellow  that  make  delightful 
touches  of  colour  in  the  landscape.    Their  lords  and 
masters  are  resplendent  in  embroidered  waistcoats, 
with  multi-coloured  silk  girdles  twisted  round  their 


waists,  and  wear  stockings  of  the  most  striking 
patterns  and  hues  imaginable. 

I  visited  only  a  few  of  the  numerous  churches  of 
Famagusta,  all  of  which,  with  the  exception  of  St. 
Nicholas,  are  in  a  more  or  less  ruinous  condition. 
One  I  remember,  with  a  lovely  Gothic  portal,  was 
used  as  a  granary— it  is  regrettable  that  English 
rule  has  not  rescued  it  from  secular  use.  The 
destruction,  of  which  one  sees  traces  on  all  hands  in 
Famagusta,  was  wrought  at  the  time  of  the  Turkish 
invasion  in  the  sixteenth  century  when  twenty 
thousand  of  the  inhabitants  were  put  to  the  sword 
and  two  thousand  women  and  children  carried  away 
into  captivity. 

The  walls  of  the  palace  of  the  Lusignan  kings 
have  been  saved  from  demoUtion  and  neglect  by 
being  used  as  barracks  for  the  military  police— a 
force  of  which  Cyprus  had  reason  to  be  proud, 
conspicuous  for  their  smartness  and  discipline. 

The  Greeks  and  Turks  at  Famagusta  occupy 
separate  quarters  of  the  town ;  the  former  is  the 
cleaner  and  more  prosperous  looking,  but  both  have 
very  narrow  streets  which  barely  permit  a  camel 
and  a  donkey  to  pass ;  screens  of  matting  overhead 
afford  necessary  protection  against  the  sun,  and 
sidewalks,  of  course,  as  in  all  Oriental  towns,  are  un- 
known. The  outskirts  of  the  town  are  surrounded 
by  orange  and  lemon  groves,  beyond  which  country 
lanes  with  hedges  of  prickly  pear  and  bamboo  lead 
out  into  the  great  plain  which  stretches  from  the 
sea  to  the  distant  mountains. 

Through  its  waving  cornfields,  gay  with  scarlet 
poppies  and  golden  marigolds,  alternating  with 
fields  of  delicate  blue  where  the  flax  was  in  bloom. 


■iMMAll 


330 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


CYPRUS 


331 


we  drove  one  day  to  the  Byzantine  monastery  of 
St.  Barnabas  and  the  site  of  ancient  Salamis.    The 
monastery,  which  tradition  asserts  is  built  by  the 
well  where  St.  Barnabas  suffered  martyrdom,  is  in 
a  somewhat  ruinous  condition  and  inhabited  only 
by  a  sohtary  monk.    A  very  picturesque  cart  track 
— ahnost   impossible   to  negotiate   on   wheels,  but 
bordered  by  wild  asparagus  bushes  which  waved 
their  golden   blossom   high   above   our   heads    on 
either  side,  and  were  so  beautiful  we  were  content 
to  walk— led  to  Salamis.    Glorious  marble  columns, 
which  once  formed  part  of  its  temple,  He  unheeded 
by  the  seashore  among  the  long  grass,  and  in  a  small 
temporary  building  near,  used   by  the  excavators 
when   at  work  here,  we   saw   headless  statues  of 
once  lovely  figures  which  were  deemed  too  mutilated 
to  be  worthy  of  removal  to  London.    Happy  statues 
to  be  left  among  the  flowers  of  this  sunny  shore 
instead  of  being  imprisoned  in  the  deadly  dulness 
of  the  British  Museum ! 

A  Httle  train  meanders  through  the  plain 
along  the  only  railway  line  in  Cyprus  to  Nicosia, 
the  capital  of  the  island  and  the  residence  of  most 
of  the  British  officials.  Remembering  my  own 
ignorance  of  the  island  before  I  visited  it,  perhaps  I 
may  be  pardoned  for  taking  up  the  time  of  those  of 
my  readers  who  do  know  something  of  our  pohtical 
position  there,  by  referring,  for  the  benefit  of  others 
not  so  well  informed,  to  the  terms  on  which  we 
have  held  Cyprus  since  1878,  when  the  Sultan 
assigned  it  to  be  "  occupied  and  administered  by 
England."  A  clause  in  the  convention  which  has 
unfortunately  given  a  feeling  of  insecurity  with 
regard  to  our  tenure,  and  so  hindered  the  develop- 


ment of  the  island,  states  that  "  If  Russia  restores 
to  Turkey  Ears  and  the  other  conquests  made  by  her 
in  Armenia  the  island  of  Cyprus  will  be  evacuated  by 
England."  As  this  contingency  is  wildly  improb- 
able, Cyprus  is,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  part  of 
the  British  Empire — and  one  of  the  loveliest  of  the 
lesser  jewels  in  her  crown. 

The  Government  is  vested  in  a  High  Commissioner 
who  resides  at  Government  House  near  Nicosia, 
several  District  Commissioners,  and  a  council  which 
takes  a  very  long  time  to  get  through  its  business, 
as  its  members,  being  English,  Greeks,  and  Turks, 
it  is  necessary  for  every  speech  made  to  be  trans- 
lated into  all  three  languages  to  make  sure  that 
everybody  has  understood  it! 

The  island  has  had  a  chequered  history :  it  has 
been  conquered  in  turn  by  the  Pharaohs,  the  Romans, 
the  Persians,  and  the  Arabs,  and  was  then  reunited 
to  the  Byzantine  Empire  and  misgoverned  by  its 
tyrant  princes  till  Coeur  de  Lion  ended  their  rule 
by  taking  Isaac  Comnenus  in  silver  chains  to  die  in 
captivity  in  Palestine,  and  giving  it  to  Guy  de 
Lusignan  and  his  heirs,  thus  founding  the  dynasty  of 
the  Lusignan  kings  who  reigned  for  three  hundred 
years.  Cyprus  then  reverted  to  Venice,  to  be 
again  conquered  by  the  Turks  when  they  overran 
Christendom,  finally  bearing  traces  of  the  influence 
of  all  its  conquerors,  Richard's  conquest  has  come 
once  more  back  to  us !  I  think  that  the  "  Lion 
Heart"  would  rejoice  if  he  could  know  that 
Nicosia,  which  witnessed  the  completion  of  his  con- 
quest when  Isaac  Comnenus  gave  himself  up,  is, 
after  seven  hundred  years,  the  seat  of  government 
of  the  English  crown.    The  cathedral  of  Nicosia, 


332 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


CYPRUS 


333 


like  that  of  Famagusta,  has  been  converted  into  a 
mosque  since  1570.    Its  lovely  Gothic  architecture 
contrasts  strangely  with  the  minarets  that  Islam 
has  added,  and  it  certainly  is  a  curious  anomaly  that 
in  an  island  under  British  rule  this  glorious  edifice, 
built  by  our  own  ancestors  for  Christian  worship,  is 
given  up  to  the  followers  of  Mohanmied,  from  whom 
permission  has  to  be  asked  to  enter  it.    Typical 
this  of  the  British  policy  giving  equal  rights  to 
Christian  and  Moslem,  but  perhaps  in  this  case 
rather  carried  to  excess  for  the  benefit  of  the  Moslem ! 
The  bazaars  of  Nicosia  can  have  altered  but  little 
in  the  course   of  centuries;   here  handicraft  still 
flourishes  and  machinery  is  unknown — each  street 
has  its  trade ;  and  this  fraternity  of  fellow-craftsmen 
all  working  together  must  have  been  the  beginning 
of  the  Merchants'  Guilds  which  became  of  such 
importance  in  Europe  in  the  Middle  Ages.    In  the 
copper  bazaar  the  air  resounds  with  the  hammering 
of  many  hands  beating  beautiful  hand-made  vessels 
into  shape — ^in  the  street  of  the  shoemakers  dozens 
of  cobblers,  seated  on  the  ground  in  the  fashion  of 
the  East,  shape  leather  into  footwear — ^in  the  silver 
bazaar  you  may  not  only  see  the  silversmiths  at 
work,  but  pick  up  curious  old  pieces  of  silver  of  a 
bygone  fashion  at  very  moderate  cost— for  Cyprus  is 
as  yet  remote  from  the  world  of  travel  and  has  not 
learnt  the  use  of  tourists. 

Among  the  many  fine  old  houses  of  Nicosia, 
that  which  was  the  Archbishop's  palace  before  the 
Moslem  conquest  is  prominent.  It  is  now  the  home 
of  an  Enghsh  lady,  who  kindly  made  us  welcome  and 
permitted  us  to  photograph  its  fine  courtyard  of  the 
fourteenth  century  surrounded  by  Gothic  arches 


and  filled  with  orange  trees  and  flowers,  among  which 
the  owner's  greatest  treasures  were — not  the  roses 
and  geraniums  which  climbed  everywhere  in  exotic 
profusion,  nor  any  gorgeous  tropic  beauties — but  a 
little  group  of  English  primroses  growing  in  a  shady 
corner — the  only  ones  in  Cyprus. 

Nicosia  is  the  favourite  headquarters  of  visitors 
to  Cyprus,  and  a  pleasant  little  town  for  a  lengthened 
stay,  but  from  the  scenic  point  of  view  it  does  not 
compare  with  Kyrenia  on  the  north  coast  of  the 
island,  which  is  a  gem  no  one  who  cares  for  beautiful 
scenery  should  miss.  It  is  reached  by  carriage  or 
on  horseback  over  the  mountains,  and  would  be  an 
ideal  camping-ground ;  indeed,  camping  is  desirable 
at  Kyrenia,  for  the  self-styled  hotel,  though  it  has  a 
lovely  situation,  is  not  a  restful  place,  and  the  nights 
I  spent  thereweremainlyoccupied  in  stalking  a  quarry 
that  attacked  in  the  dark  and  became  invisible 
when  I  struck  a  light !  Failing  a  tent,  I  will  take  a 
hammock  on  my  next  visit  to  Kyrenia  and  hang  it 

in  the  open ! 

The  Crusading  castle  of  Hilarion  lies  a  little 
off  the  main  road  from  Nicosia,  neai  the  summit 
of  the  pass,  and  is  well  worth  a  visit.  Though  it 
seems  to  tower  above  you  at  an  immense 
height  when  you  first  catch  sight  of  it,  the  outer 
walls  can  be  reached  in  an  hour  by  a  footpath  from 
the  main  road;  they  enclose  a  very  large  area, 
showing  what  an  important  fortress  this  must  have 
been  in  the  Middle  Ages.  From  its  grass-grown 
court  a  wonderful  view  of  the  mountains  and  valley 
beneath  is  framed  in  between  Gothic  arches.  Probably 
Richard  stayed  at  Hilarion  on  his  way  to  Kyrenia 
where  the  daughter  of  Isaac  Comnenus  met  him 


I 


l» 


M 


334 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


and  threw  herself  at  his  feet ;  he  must  have  gone 
by  the  way  we  went— niown  the  serpentine  road  that 
winds  through  cornfields  dotted  with  dark  caroub 
trees  to  the  castle  of  Kyrenia,  now  a  prison,  which 
is  still  in  such  perfect  preservation  that  the  solid 
masonry  looks  as  good  as  if  it  had  been  built  but 
yesterday.  The  moat  is  dry  and  the  drawbridge  has 
vanished,  but  the  dungeons  are  wholly  unchanged, 
and  we  gazed  with  horror  down  a  pit  yawning  beneath 
one  of  them,  in  which  Mving  victims  were  buried  in 
the  terrible  times  of  the  dark  ages. 

To  see  such  things  helps  one  to  realise  how  the 
world  has  progressed  since  those  times,  far  though 
we  seem  from  the  ideal  of  "  loving  our  enemies  " 
to-day. 

The  whole  of  the  northern  coast  of  Cyprus  is 
worth  exploring,  for,  unhke  the  other  side  of  the 
island,  it  is  well  wooded  and  has  the  combined  charms 
of  mountain  and  sea.  The  kindness  of  the  acting 
Commissioner  for  the  district,  who  insisted  on  our 
moving  to  his  house  from  the  hotel  and  often  gave 
us  his  escort,  enabled  us  to  see  places  of  great  interest 
and  beauty  we  should  otherwise  have  missed.  One 
of  these  is  the  Greek  monastery  in  the  mountains 
at  Myrtou,  1500  feet  above  sea-level,  where  we 
stayed  a  night  and  were  most  hospitably  entertained 
by  the  monks.  The  patriarchal  Ufe  of  the  monas- 
tery was  very  interesting,  the  whole  of  the  cloistered 
space  within  the  buildings  being  a  great  farmyard 
with  a  Byzantine  chapel  in  the  centre.  Men,  women, 
and  children  hve  at  the  monastery  in  a  sort  of  com- 
munity, and  guest-rooms  are  kept  for  strangers.  On 
the  way  to  Myrtou  we  visited  Lapithos,  a  centre  of 
the  silk- worm  industry  and  a  lovely  little  place  very 


Baalbek 


PALESTINE  AT  THE  TIME  OF  THE  THIRD  CRUSADE. 


CYPRUS 


337 


suggestive  of  Italy,  with  its  picturesque  houses  climb- 
ing the  hillside,  its  graceful  campanile  and  blossoming 
orchards. 

But  the  finest  of  all  the  excursions  from  Kyrenia 
is  to  the  glorious  abbey  of  Bella  Pais — "  the  most 
beautiful  and  important  Gothic  monument  in  the 
Levant/'  The  abbey  chapel,  still  in  good  pre- 
servation, is  used  as  the  village  church,  but  the  ex- 
quisite fretwork  of  some  of  the  arches  round  the 
cloisters  is  broken,  and  here  and  there  pieces  have 
vanished  altogether.  The  central  space  of  the 
cloisters  is  filled  with  dark-leaved  orange  trees  laden 
with  fruit  of  varying  ripeness,  and  of  all  shades  from 
pale  lemon  to  deep  orange,  as  well  as  snowy  blossoms 
which  scented  the  air.  From  the  walk  above  the 
cloisters,  once  roofed  over,  but  now  open  to  the  sky, 
is  the  most  exquisite  of  views,  in  which  the  beautiful 
campanile  flanked  by  dark  Cyprus  trees  stands  out 
against  the  mountains.  Every  student  of  archi- 
tecture and  lover  of  the  beautiful  who  visits  this 
glorious  ruin  in  its  exquisite  setting  must  feel  that 
Bella  Pais  alone  is  worth  the  journey  to  Cyprus. 

Last  of  all  my  memories  of  this  Mediterranean 
isle  is  Limasol,  where  Richard  wedded  Queen  Beren- 
garia  of  Navarre.  The  town  is  very  modern  and 
has  a  fine  new  Greek  cathedral,  and  also  a  new 
mosque  (for  the  Turks  would  not  be  outdone  by  the 
Greeks),  but  portions  of  the  old  castle  date  back  to 
Richard's  time,  and  within  its  walls  is  the  Kttle 
chapel  which  tradition  says  witnessed  the  royal 
marriage  and  the  crowning  of  Berengaria  as  Queen 
of  England  and  Cyprus.  The  chapel,  to  which  we 
descended  by  a  short  flight  of  steps  in  bad  repair, 
could  only  be  seen  dimly  by  the  light  of  a  lantern, 
i8 


CYPRUS 


337 


suggestive  of  Italy,  with  its  picturesque  houses  climb- 
ing the  hillside,  its  graceful  campanile  and  blossoming 
orchards. 

But  the  finest  of  all  the  excursions  from  Kyrenia 
is  to  the  glorious  abbey  of  Bella  Pais — "  the  most 
beautiful  and  important  Gothic  monument  in  the 
Levant/'  The  abbey  chapel,  still  in  good  pre- 
servation, is  used  as  the  village  church,  but  the  ex- 
quisite fretwork  of  some  of  the  arches  round  the 
cloisters  is  broken,  and  here  and  there  pieces  have 
vanished  altogether.  The  central  space  of  the 
cloisters  is  filled  with  dark-leaved  orange  trees  laden 
with  fruit  of  varying  ripeness,  and  of  all  shades  from 
pale  lemon  to  deep  orange,  as  well  as  snowy  blossoms 
which  scented  the  air.  From  the  walk  above  the 
cloisters,  once  roofed  over,  but  now  open  to  the  sky, 
is  the  most  exquisite  of  views,  in  which  the  beautiful 
campanile  flanked  by  dark  Cyprus  trees  stands  out 
against  the  mountains.  Every  student  of  archi- 
tecture and  lover  of  the  beautiful  who  visits  this 
glorious  ruin  in  its  exquisite  setting  must  feel  that 
Bella  Pais  alone  is  worth  the  journey  to  Cyprus. 

Last  of  all  my  memories  of  this  Mediterranean 
isle  is  Limasol,  where  Richard  wedded  Queen  Beren- 
garia  of  Navarre.  The  town  is  very  modern  and 
has  a  fine  new  Greek  cathedral,  and  also  a  new 
mosque  (for  the  Turks  would  not  be  outdone  by  the 
Greeks),  but  portions  of  the  old  castle  date  back  to 
Richard's  time,  and  within  its  walls  is  the  Httle 
chapel  which  tradition  says  witnessed  the  royal 
marriage  and  the  crowning  of  Berengaria  as  Queen 
of  England  and  Cyprus.  The  chapel,  to  which  we 
descended  by  a  short  flight  of  steps  in  bad  repair, 
could  only  be  seen  dimly  by  the  Ught  of  a  lantern, 

i8 


338 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


and  the  stone  vaulting  alone  shows  its  former 
sacred  use.  The  castle,  like  that  of  Kyrenia,  now 
serves  as  a  jail ;  we  saw  the  poor  prisoners  at  close 
quarters  behind  the  bars  of  their  cells,  over  each 
of  which  was  written  the  name,  offence,  and  sentence 
of  the  occupant.  It  is  rather  a  curious  coincidence 
that  the  church  which  is  said  to  have  witnessed 
Richard's  marriage,  Hke  that  which  contains  his 
tomb,  is  now  within  the  precincts  of  a  prison. 

The  top  of  the  castle  walls  commands  a  charming 
view  of  the  country  lying  between  the  mountains 
and  the  sea,  over  which  perhaps  Richard  and  Beren- 
garia  gazed  together  in  the  brief  days  of  their  honey- 
moon before  they  set  sail  for  the  Holy  Land,  where 
they  so  soon  and  mysteriously  became  estranged. 

The  clouds  hung  over  Cyprus  as  we  left  it, 
though  all  the  sky  was  clear— I  am  told  that  this  is 
a  common  phenomenon  here.  Could  it  have  sug- 
gested to  the  ancients  that  the  isle  thus  veiled  from 
mortal  eyes  was  the  abode  of  the  gods,  and  did  they, 
therefore,  make  it  the  chief  shrine  of  Aphrodite  ? 


CHAPTER  IV 

FROM  THE   ADRIATIC  TO  THE   RHINE 

We  know  that  Richard's  first  landing-place  after 
he  sailed  from  Acre  was  at  Corfu,  perhaps  the  most 
attractive  of  all  the  islands  in  the  Adriatic,  with  its 
combined  charms  of  lovely  scenery  and  classic  lore. 
Two  royalties  of  artistic  temperament  have  made  it 
their  winter  home,  and  shown  their  good  taste  in 
doing  so — the  late  Empress  EUzabeth  of  Austria, 
who  built  the  palace  of  the  Achilleon,  and  the  German 
Emperor,  who  purchased  the  property  some  years 
after  her  death,  and  would  escape  to  his  Corfu  home 
earher,  and  stay  longer,  did  not  his  exalted  idea 
of  duty  keep  him  nearer  home.  In  spite  of  the 
faciUties  for  reaching  the  island  offered  by  the 
Austrian  Lloyd  steamers  from  Trieste,  it  remains 
but  Uttle  known  to  most  travellers. 

The  little  town  of  Corfu  is  most  picturesque.  It 
clusters  round  a  spacious  harbour,  dominated  by  the 
old  fortress,  from  which  there  is  a  glorious  view 
over  the  whole  island,  with  its  olive-clad  hills  inter- 
spersed with  dark  Cyprus  trees,  and  across  the 
straits  to  the  Albanian  coast. 

The  streets  of  the  old  town  are  reminiscent  of 
Italy,  very  narrow,  for  protection  against  the  heat 
of  the  southern  sun,  with  only  a  little  strip  of  blue 

889 


340 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


sky  showing  overhead  between  the  tall  bmldings. 
In  the  grounds  of  the  royal  villa,  Mon  Repos,  palms, 
aloes,  magnoMas,  bananas,  and  bamboos  flourish, 
and  show  how  favourable  are  the  climatic  conditions ; 
these  lovely  subtropical  gardens  were  much  admired 
by  King  Edward  and  Queen  Alexandra,  when  they 
spent  a  happy  holiday  on  the  island  in  the  spring  of 
1906.  Some  of  the  mountain  peaks,  notably  Monte 
Sainte  Deca,  are  worth  ascending  for  the  sake  of 
the  glorious  views  over  the  whole  island. 

Many  memories  of  classic  lore  connect  Corfu 
with  the  fabulous  history  of  Ulysses,  who,  according 
to  tradition,  met  Nausica  on  the  lake  of  KaUkio- 
poulo,  while  the  islet  where  the  Empress  of  Austria 
Hved  before  she  built  the  Achilleon— locally  known 
as  "  mouse  island,"  and  immortalised  by  a  famous 
German  artist  as  the  Isle  of  Death— figures  m  the 
story  as  the  ship  that  brought  Ulysses  and  was 

turned  into  stone. 

Of  Coeur  de  Lion's  sojourn  there  seems  to  be 
no  trace ;  it  was  probably  a  very  brief  one,  and  he 
would  have  taken  care  to  conceal  his  identity. 

The  traditions  of  Dahnatia  ascribe  to  King 
Richard  the  building  of  the  first  cathedral  of  St. 
Biagio  at  Ragusa,  destroyed  by  the  great  earthquake 
of  1667,  as  weU  as  the  founding  of  the  monastery 
on  the  island  of  Lacroma  opposite  the  medieval 
town.  When  you  visit  the  treasury  of  the  present 
cathedral,  you  will  be  shown  an  enamelled  casket, 
containing  the  skuU  of  the  saint,  which  was  long 
beUeved  to  be  tweKth-century  work,  and  part  of  the 
Treasury  of  Richard's  church,  very  probably  pre- 
sented by  him,  and  saved  from  destruction  at  the  time 
of  the  earthquake  of  1667.    This  interesting  theory 


FROM  THE  ADRIATIC  TO  THE  RHINE     341 

was  dissipated  by  Mr.  Thomas  Graham  Jackson,  R.A., 
who  discovered  that  some  little  lines  of  twisted  gold 
in  the  casket,  which  had  hitherto  appeared  part  of 
the  pattern,  were  in  reality  the  date,  1694.  From 
this  he  argued  that  the  present  casket  was  made 
after  the  fire,  and  the  Byzantine  work  upon  it  part 
of  an  older  one.  So,  after  all,  when  you  look  upon 
it  you  may  see  bits  of  the  workmanship  of  the 
original  casket  which,  with  the  church,  if  tradition 
speaks  true,  was  Coeur  de  Lion's  thank-offering  for 
his  escape  from  shipwreck. 

No  one  who  has  not  visited  Ragusa  has  any  idea 
of  its  importance  in  the  Middle  Ages,  for  no  one 
who  has  not  been,  or  is  going,  to  Dalmatia  would  think 
of  studying  the  history  of  this  miniature  repubUc, 
which  boasts  that  it  remained  an  island  of  Christi- 
anity in  a  sea  of  surrounding  Mohammedanism 
which  engulfed  eastern  Christendom,  and  was  the 
first  of  European  states  to  make  a  treaty  securing 
trade  privileges  with  the  Orient.  The  religious 
character  which  Ragusa  always  bore  would  have 
ensured  a  welcome  there  for  so  mighty  a  champion 
of  Christianity  as  Coeur  de  Lion;  this  lends 
probabiUty  to  the  theory  that  he  was  making  for 
that  port  when  the  storm  came  on  which  drove 
the  pkate  vessel  in  which  he  sailed  upon  the  rocks. 

The  Ragusa  of  to-day  has  not  lost  its  medieval 
character;  it  is  one  of  the  few  remaining  coast 
towns  of  Europe  still  girt  with  mighty  walls  and 
strong  towers,  but  it  is  being  gradually  discovered 
by  the  travelUng  world,  and  you  can  now  view  the 
ancient  town  from  the  balconies  of  a  charmingly 
situated  modern  hotel  outside  the  walls,  and  from 
this  centre  visit  the  fjord-Uke  scenery  of  lovely 


n't' I 


f< 


\ 


340  RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 

sky  showing  overhead  between  the  tall  buildings. 
In  the  grounds  of  the  royal  villa,  Mon  Repos,  palms, 
aloes,  magnolias,  bananas,  and  bamboos  flourish, 
and  show  how  favourable  are  the  climatic  conditions ; 
these  lovely  subtropical  gardens  were  much  admired 
by  King  Edward  and  Queen  Alexandra,  when  they 
spent  a  happy  hohday  on  the  island  in  the  spring  of 
1906.  Some  of  the  mountain  peaks,  notably  Monte 
Sainte  Deca,  are  worth  ascending  for  the  sake  of 
the  glorious  views  over  the  whole  island. 

Many  memories  of  classic  lore  connect  Corfu 
with  the  fabulous  history  of  Ulysses,  who,  according 
to  tradition,  met  Nausica  on  the  lake  of  Kalikio- 
poulo,  while  the  islet  where  the  Empress  of  Austria 
Uved  before  she  built  the  Achilleon— locally  known 
as  "  mouse  island,"  and  immortaUsed  by  a  famous 
German  artist  as  the  Isle  of  Death— figures  in  the 
story  as  the  ship  that  brought  Ulysses  and  was 

turned  into  stone. 

Of  Coeur  de  Lion's  sojourn  there  seems  to  be 
no  trace ;  it  was  probably  a  very  brief  one,  and  he 
would  have  taken  care  to  conceal  his  identity. 

The  traditions  of  Dalmatia  ascribe  to  King 
Richard  the  building  of  the  first  cathedral  of  St. 
Biagio  at  Ragusa,  destroyed  by  the  great  earthquake 
of  1667,  as  well  as  the  founding  of  the  monastery 
on  the  island  of  Lacroma  opposite  the  medieval 
town.  When  you  visit  the  treasury  of  the  present 
cathedral,  you  wiU  be  shown  an  enamelled  casket, 
containing  the  skull  of  the  saint,  which  was  long 
beUeved  to  be  twelfth-century  work,  and  part  of  the 
Treasury  of  Richard's  church,  very  probably  pre- 
sented by  him,  and  saved  from  destruction  at  the  time 
of  the  earthquake  of  1667.    This  interesting  theory 


FROM  THE  ADRIATIC  TO  THE  RHINE     341 

was  dissipated  by  Mr.  Thomas  Graham  Jackson,  R.A., 
who  discovered  that  some  httle  lines  of  twisted  gold 
in  the  casket,  which  had  hitherto  appeared  part  of 
the  pattern,  were  in  reality  the  date,  1694.  From 
this  he  argued  that  the  present  casket  was  made 
after  the  fire,  and  the  Byzantine  work  upon  it  part 
of  an  older  one.  So,  after  all,  when  you  look  upon 
it  you  may  see  bits  of  the  workmanship  of  the 
original  casket  which,  with  the  church,  if  tradition 
speaks  true,  was  Coeur  de  Lion's  thank-offering  for 
his  escape  from  shipwreck. 

No  one  who  has  not  visited  Ragusa  has  any  idea 
of  its  importance  in  the  Middle  Ages,  for  no  one 
who  has  not  been,  or  is  going,  to  Dahnatia  would  think 
of  studying  the  history  of  this  miniature  repubUc, 
which  boasts  that  it  remained  an  island  of  Christi- 
anity in  a  sea  of  surrounding  Mohammedanism 
which  engulfed  eastern  Christendom,  and  was  the 
first  of  European  states  to  make  a  treaty  securing 
trade  privileges  with  the  Orient.  The  religious 
character  which  Ragusa  always  bore  would  have 
ensured  a  welcome  there  for  so  mighty  a  champion 
of  Christianity  as  Coeur  de  Lion;  this  lends 
probabihty  to  the  theory  that  he  was  making  for 
that  port  when  the  storm  came  on  which  drove 
the  pirate  vessel  in  which  he  sailed  upon  the  rocks. 

The  Ragusa  of  to-day  has  not  lost  its  medieval 
character;  it  is  one  of  the  few  remaining  coast 
towns  of  Europe  still  girt  with  mighty  walls  and 
strong  towers,  but  it  is  being  gradually  discovered 
by  the  travelhng  world,  and  you  can  now  view  the 
ancient  town  from  the  balconies  of  a  charmingly 
situated  modern  hotel  outside  the  walls,  and  from 
this  centre  visit  the  fjord-Uke  scenery  of  lovely 


342 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


Bocchi  de  Cattaro,  the  neighbouring  Herzegovina, 
many  of  the  islands  of  the  south  Dabnatian  archi- 
pelago, or,  without  going  so  far  afield,  spend  weeks  at 
Ragusa  and  find  new  walks  every  day. 

The  impression  the  voyager  gets  of  the  Dalmatian 
coast  is,  it  must  be  confessed,  on  the  whole,  one  of 
bare  rocks  and  barren  shore,  but  the  fertility  of  the 
soil  of  Ragusa  is  shown  in  its  delightful  gardens, 
where  pahns  wave  overhead,  roses  run  riot,  and 
the  oleander  trees  laden  with  pink  blossom  mingle 
with  bamboos  and  other  subtropical  plants  and 
shrubs.  Not  a  few  of  the  gardens  are  fairy-like 
wildernesses  of  luxuriant  growth  surrounding  ruined 
villas  of  Ragusan  patrician  famihes,  which  have 
never  been  rebuilt  since  they  were  wrecked  by  the 
Montenegrins  during  the  Napoleonic  wars. 

The  isle  of  Lacroma — according  to  tradition  the 
actual  scene  of  the  shipwreck — is  a  garden  Paradise. 
There  is  hardly  any  time  of  year— except  it  be  when 
the  earth  hes  parched  and  panting  under  a  mid- 
summer sun— that  you  will  not  find  a  profusion  of 
flowers  in  the  garden  that  surrounds  the  monastery, 
and  the  air  is  heavy  with  the  fragrance  of  myrtle 
and  rosemary  in  midwinter.  The  monks  have  not 
always  held  undisputed  sway  here,  though  the 
religious  foundation  goes  back  to  the  twelfth  century. 
For  a  few  short  years  they  had  to  give  place  to 
a  royal  prince— that  unfortunate  member  of  the 
Hapsburg  family  who  later  became  Emperor  of 
Mexico,  and  who,  attracted  by  the  romantic  beauty 
of  the  situation,  resolved  to  make  Lacroma  his 
home.  AiVTien  he  left  here  never  to  return,  his 
nephew,  Prince  RudoK,  succeeded  him  in  possession 
of  the  island  and  often  visited  it ;  when  he,  too,  met 


FROM  THE  ADRIATIC  TO  THE  RHINE     343 

his  fate  in  a  tragic  death,  the  Emperor  Francis 
Joseph  gave  the  island  back  to  the  monks;  but 
memories  of  the  Hapsburgs  remain  in  some  of  the 
pictures  hung  upon  the  monastery  walls.  Lacroma 
is  covered  with  dark  ilex  woods  which  lend  them- 
selves to  the  air  of  melancholy  the  associations  of 
this  lovely  isle  call  up;  and  the  booming  of  the  sea 
upon  the  rocks  and  its  moaning  in  the  caves  of  the 
north  side  deepen  the  impression  of  a  haunted  isle. 

Ragusa  is  still  a  medieval  Venetian  town— -its 
Rector's  Palace,  which  stands  on  the  site  of  the 
ancient  castle,  is  a  gem  which  suggests  in  miniature 
the  Palace  of  the  Doges— of  the  Venetian  period 
are  the  lovely  fountains  and  the  Dogana,  which 
was  at  once  the  custom-house  and  mint  of  the 
Republic,  but  some  of  the  massive  stonework  of 
the  walls  must  be  much  older  than  the  pahny  days 
of  the  Serene  Repubhc,  and  certainly  existed  in  the 
twelfth  century.  I  doubt  not  the  walls  have  been 
many  times  repaired  since  then,  but  I  fancy  they 
have  not  altered  in  form. 

The  only  other  places  on  the  Adriatic  coast 
which  contemporary  writers  mention  in  connection 
with  Coeur  de  Lion's  story  are  Aquileia  (which  lay 
a  little  to  the  north  of  Triest)  and  Zara.  I  have 
mentioned  my  theory  that  though  driven  ashore  at 
Aquileia,  Richard  took  boat  again  to  Zara  to  throw 
his  enemies  off  his  track.  At  Zara  he  seems  to 
have  changed  his  Templar's  dress  for  that  of  a 
palmer,  and  struck  inland  on  that  ill-fated  journey 
that  ended  in  the  dungeons  of  Durrenstein. 

Zara,  the  Zadara  of  the  ancients,  will  surely  dis- 
appoint the  traveller  who  first  approaches  it, 
remembering  that  its  mighty  walls  carried  dismay 


M 


"I 


344 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


into  the  hearts  of  the  Crusaders;  for  they  have 
wholly  vanished,  and  a  modern  waterfront  meets 
your  eye  as  you  approach  the  town  by  sea.  Yet 
many  monuments  of  antiquity  remain  that  tell  of 
its  Koman  period,  and  must  have  greeted  Coeur 
de  Lion's  eyes  as  they  do  ours  to-day.  Foremost 
of  these  is  San  Donato,  one  of  the  oldest  churches 
in  the  Austro-Hungarian  Empire,  erected  in  the 
ninth  century  and  mentioned  in  the  Emperor 
Constantine's  writings  of  the  tenth;  but  standing 
upon  the  still  older  foundation  of  a  Roman  street 
— ^and  built  in  part — alas  for  the  vandalism  of  the 
Early  Christians ! — of  broken  columns  and  capitals 
of  a  Roman  temple.  Undoubtedly  this  was  the 
cathedral  of  Zara  when  Richard  came  here — ^he  may 
even  have  heard  Mass  within  its  walls. 

San  Donato  is  used  as  a  church  no  longer,  but 
a  museum  in  which  are  carefully  preserved  coins  and 
ornaments  which  tell  of  Greek  Illyrian  times- 
many  of  them  dug  up  at  Nona  near  by,  now  a 
village,  but  a  seaport  of  importance  in  the  Trojan 

wars. 

The  present  Duomo,  though  not  older  than  the 
thirteenth  century,  was  erected  on  the  site  of  an 
earlier  building,  and  its  crypt  is  probably  of  about 
the  same  date  as  San  Donato— as  well  as  some 
columns  in  the  church.  Nor  is  this  all  still  remaining 
in  Zara  to-day  that  Richard  must  have  seen— the 
Roman  pillars  used  under  Venetian  dominion  as  a 
public  pillory,  to  which  the  chains  still  attached 
bear  witness,  were  ancient  even  in  his  time,  and 
the  lovely  campanile  forming  part  of  the  Convent 
of  St.  Maria  was  erected  by  King  Cobnan  of  Hungary 
early  in  the  twelfth  century. 


FROM  THE  ADRIATIC  TO  THE  RHINE     345 

History  does  not  relate  how  Richard  found  his 
way  from  Zara— where  he  disappears  to  sight  till  he 
reaches  the  environs  of  Vienna,  where  he  fell  into  the 
hands  of  his  sworn  enemy,  the  Duke  of  Austria, 
beyond  mentioning  his  passing  through  the  territory 
of  Count  Meinhard  of  Gorz.  He  must  have  crossed 
the  wild  Velibit  moimtains  which  form  here  the 
backbone  of  Dahnatia  and  divide  it  from  Croatia, 
and  to  do  this  he  would  first  follow  the  great  post 
road  through  the  barren  Karst,  but  later  on  his 
road  would  lie  through  olive  orchards  and  more 
fertile  country  towards  the  mysterious  grey  wall 
of  the  mountains  which  is  even  to-day  ahnost  a 
terra  incognita,  except  to  the  shepherds  and  a  few 
hardy  sportsmen.  It  required  no  small  courage 
for  any  one  to  undertake  such  a  journey  in  those 
days— let  alone  a  hunted  man  who  was  passing 
through  an  enemy's  land. 

We  hear  of  Richard  next  as  a  prisoner  in  the 
dimgeons  of  Durrenstein— the  ruins  of  which  ancient 
castle  may  still  be  seen,  perched  aloft  Uke  an  eagle's 
nest,  by  visitors  to  that  beautiful  part  of  the  Danube 
known  as  the  Wachau,  the  most  romantic  district 
of  the  most  romantic  river  in  Europe,  exceeding  in 
beauty  the  better-known  and,  alas,  now  too  tourist- 
ridden  Rhine.  This  part  of  the  Danube  has  in 
comparison  to  its  length  equally  as  many  old  castles 
along  its  banks,  while  its  waters  are  not  spoilt  by 
cargo  boats,  and  even  passenger  steamers  are 
infrequent. 

Durrenstein  passed  out  of  the  hands  of  its 
original  possessors  into  those  of  Prince  Starhemberg 
in  the  seventeenth  century,  and  the  present  Prince 
Starhemberg  still  resides  in  the  modem  castle  at 


i'l 


' 
i 


346 


KICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


the  foot  of  the  rock  crowned  by  the  old  ruins. 
The  village  of  Durrenstein  is  delightfully  picturesque 
and  very  remote  from  the  world,  for  few  of  the  pas- 
sengers who  voyage  up  and  down  the  Danube  ever 
land  there  to  see  its  quaint,  medieval  streets  and 
ancient  houses. 

We  have  no  record  of  the  route  taken  by 
Richard  when  he  was  handed  over  by  the  Duke  of 
Austria  to  the  German  Emperor,  till  he  reached 
Ochsenfort,  where  the  two  abbots  met  him;  but 
there  can  be  no  doubt  he  passed  through  Passau, 
where  the  Danube  now  enters  Bavarian  territory. 
This  beautiful  frontier  town  is  uniquely  situated 
where  the  Inn  and  the  Ilz  join  their  waters  to  those 
of  the  Danube,  and  with  its  intersecting  waterways, 
bordered  by  picturesque  houses,  forcibly  suggests  a 
northern  Venice. 

The  cathedral  of  Passau  stands  on  the  site  of  a 
twelfth-century  building,  but  has  since  then  been 
burnt  down  and  rebuilt  more  than  once;  all 
the  other  churches  were  restored  in  the  last 
century ;  none  of  the  other  important  buildings  are 
older  than  the  sixteenth  or  seventeenth  century,  but 
the  history  of  the  town  dates  back  to  the  Romans, 
and,  with  one  interval  of  twenty-four  years,  it  has 
been  an  episcopal  see  since  737.  From  the  pilgrim- 
age church  of  Mariahilf  above  the  town,  or  from  the 
heights  that  are  crowned  by  the  ancient  fortress  of 
Oberheim,  you  look  down  into  the  valleys  of  the 
three  rivers,  enclosed  by  wooded  heights,  and  over 
the  Bavarian  forest  to  the  north,  through  which 
Richard  travelled  with  heavy  heart  so  long  ago. 

The  next  large  town  along  his  way  was  Ratisbon 
•^the   Regensburg   of   the   Germans,   the    Regina 


FROM  THE  ADRIATIC  TO  THE  RHINE     347 

Castra  of  the  Romans — already  in  the  twelfth 
century  one  of  the  chief  free  cities  of  the  German 
Empire.  To  Ratisbon  Richard  returned,  according 
to  some  authorities,  for  the  first  stage  of  his  pro- 
tracted trial.  There  are  relics  of  the  architecture 
of  his  time  in  the  quaintly  named  Eselsturm 
of  the  Romanesque  chapel  of  the  cathedral,  as 
well  as  in  a  medieval  tower  known  as  the  Romer- 
turm  and  the  Schotten  Kirche,  a  basilica  of  about 
Richard's  date,  originally  founded,  as  its  name 
implies,  by  Scottish  monks. 

A  study  of  the  map  shows  that  Ochsenfurt  was 
not  on  the  direct  road  to  Speyer,  but  Richard's 
jailers  may  have  had  instructions  to  take  him  round 
that  way  to  avoid  places  where  he  would  have  had 
friends  or  sympathisers.  The  records  are  clear  that 
he  met  the  messengers  from  England  at  the  quaint 
little  town  on  the  Main,  which  lies  on  the  way  from 
Wurzburg  to  Munich,  and  the  old  fortifications  with 
their  many  towers,  which  are  so  well  preserved 
to-day,  may  easily  have  witnessed  the  meeting 
between  the  royal  prisoner  and  his  friends,  with 
whom  he  journeyed  towards  Speyer — where  finally 
he  was  delivered  over  to  the  Emperor  on  Palm 
Sunday. 

Though  one  of  the  oldest  towns  in  Germany, 
and  the  fifth  free  Imperial  city  of  the  Rhine  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  little  was  left  of  medieval  Speyer  by 
the  French,  who  burnt  it  in  1689.  The  walls  of  the 
cathedral,  now  adorned  with  fine  frescoes  executed 
in  the  last  century,  alone  survived  the  conflagration 
and  still  stand,  so  that  it  is  one  of  the  oldest 
churches  of  the  Rhine  land,  having  been  consecrated 
the  year  following  the  Norman  Conquest,  and  the 


348 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


burial  place  of  the  Roman  Emperors  for  nearly  five 
centuries. 

The  Emperors'  tombs  were  desecrated  by  the 
French  and  the  bodies  removed,  but  the  Imperial 
vault  was  reconstructed  some  ten  years  ago  and 
the  royal  remains  replaced  as  far  as  possible  in  their 
old  positions.  One  of  the  curiosities  of  the  cathedral 
is  the  Donmapf  or  cathedral  bowl  of  sandstone, 
which  marked  the  old  boundary  between  ecclesi- 
astical and  civil  jurisdiction,  and  which  every  new 
bishop,  after  promising  to  respect  the  Uberties  of 
the  free  town,  filled  with  wine  to  be  drunk  to  his 
health  by  the  townspeople. 

Of  the  old  building  where  the  Imperial  Diets  were 
held  (at  one  of  which  the  Reformers  first  received 
the  name  of  Protestants)  there  remains  but  a  portion 
of  a  wall ;  but  a  gate-tower,  known  as  the  Altportal, 
must  have  met  Richard's  eyes,  and  part  at  least  of 
the  Heidenturm  is  of  his  date,  as  it  formed  a  portion 
of  the  medieval  walls. 

From  Speyer  Richard  was  removed  for  custody 
to  the  castle  of  Trifels  in  Rhenish  Bavaria,  a  hill 
fortress  of  such  strength  that  the  Regalia  of  the 
German  Emperors  was  kept  there  when  it  was  a 
royal  residence. 

Evidently  fears  were  entertained  that  the  valu- 
able prisoner  might  escape  and  a  "  king's  ransom  " 
be  lost ;  so  Richard  was  placed  with  the  Regalia 
for  security. 

The  dungeon  in  which  he  was  confined  may  still 
be  seen  by  visitors,  though  all  that  remains  of  the 
castle  is  the  central  tower  and  chapel,  which  has 
been  restored.  The  ruins  crown  a  rocky  hill  at  a 
height  of  1600  feet,  and  on  two  other  spurs  of  the 


FROM  THE  ADRIATIC  TO  THE  RHINE     349 

mountain,  which  form  the  northern  end  of  a  range 
of  wooded  hills,  are  other  ruins  of  outlying  forts — 
the  entire  group  having  given  to  this  once  great 
fortress  the  name  of  Trifels  or  Three  Rocks.  Not  far 
off  is  the  old  town  of  Anweiler,  and  from  the  Maden- 
burg,  reached  from  Trifels  by  a  charming  path 
through  the  woods,  the  spires  of  Speyer  and  Worms 
are  visible  on  a  clear  day — ^two  cities  which  played  a 
leading  part  in  the  drama  which  so  long  riveted 
the  attention  of  Europe— with  the  warrior  King  of 
the  Lion  Heart  for  its  central  figure. 

We  hear  of  Richard  being  brought  up  for  trial 
at  Hagenau  and  Treves,  as  well  as  at  Ratisbon. 
There  is  no  more  historically  interesting  place  in 
Germany  than  Trfeves,  called  by  the  Germans  Trier, 
for  it  can  make  good  its  claim  to  be  the  oldest  town 
in  Germany,  and,  according  to  a  tradition  recorded 
on  the  former  Rathhaus,  existed  thirteen  hundred 
years  before  Rome.  Here  you  may  see  the  finest 
Roman  remains  north  of  the  Alps,  for  the  city  was 
a  residence  of  the  Roman  Emperors  in  the  fourth 
century,  and  the  seat  of  the  powerful  Archbishop 
Electors  for  fifteen  centuries  after  the  introduction 
of  Christianity  in  314.  The  Roman  amphitheatre, 
hewn  out  of  the  soUd  rock  on  the  slope  of  a  vine-clad 
hill,  still  remains  to  recall  its  pahny  days  under  the 
Caesars,  as  well  as  the  ruins  of  the  Roman  palace 
excavated  early  in  the  last  century,  part  of  the  Roman 
wall,  and— best  preserved  of  all— the  "  Porta  Nigra," 
a  magnificent  gateway  with  towers  of  defence  dating, 
some  say,  from  the  first,  but  certainly  not  later  than 
the  third,  century.  The  Basihca  is  another  building  of 
Constantine's  time,  which  in  the  Middle  Ages  became 
a  seat  of  the  governors,  so  it  is  not  impossible  Richard 


350 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


may  have  been  lodged  there  when  he  was  brought 
up  for  trial  at  Treves.  Its  present  use  as  a  Protestant 
place  of  worship  dates  only  from  the  middle  of  the 

last  century. 

The  cathedral  is  very  ancient,  and  a  cele- 
brated place  of  pilgrimage  on  account  of  the 
famous  reHc  in  its  Treasury  known  as  the  Holy 
Coat  of  Treves,  which,  according  to  the  picturesque 
legend,  was  spun  for  the  infant  Saviour  by  the  Virgin, 
miraculously  grew  with  His  growth,  and  was  dis- 
covered in  the  Holy  Sepulchre  by  St.  Agretius,  the 
first  Bishop  of  Treves,  in  326.  It  is  shown  to  the 
people  only  at  rare  intervals,  and  when  exhibited 
in  1844  brought  together  a  million  pilgrims  from  all 

parts  of  the  world. 

The  cathedral  of  Trfeves,  Hke  the  ancient  town, 
has  grown  throughout  the  ages  to  its  present  pro- 
portions. The  original  building  was  a  pagan  temple 
erected  in  the  fourth  century,  and  converted  into 
a  Christian  Church  by  the  Empress  Helena ;  the 
Roman  work  of  red  sandstone  and  brick  is  clearly 
visible  on  the  north  exterior,  and  some  Roman 
arches  have  been  brought  to  view  in  the  interior. 
The  church  was  rebuilt  in  the  eleventh  century, 
enlarged  in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth,  and  was 
restored  in  the  last  century,  so  presents  an  interest- 
ing study  to  the  student  of  architecture ;  but  lovers 
of  the  Gothic  will  prefer  the  lovely  Liebefrau  Kirche, 
joined  to  the  cathedral  by  cloisters,  and  one  of  the 
earMest  pure  Gothic  churches  in  Europe,  dating 
from  the  thirteenth  century. 

No  enumeration  of  the  sights  of  Treves  can  give 
any  idea  of  the  charm  of  this  ancient  town,  so  beauti- 
fully situated  in  a  fertile  plain,  surrounded  by  vine- 


FROM  THE  ADRIATIC  TO  THE  RHINE     351 

clad  and  wooded  hills,  which  make  a  lovely  green 
setting  for  its  red  sandstone  walls  and  towers.  To 
know  it,  you  must  Unger  there  and  wander  at  leisure 
among  its  old  buildings  and  recall  their  history. 

There  remain  but  two  other  towns  in  the  Rhine 
land  that  played  their  part  in  Richard's  story — 
Worms  and  Mayence.  The  former  is  full  of  interest  as 
one  of  the  oldest  towns  in  Germany,  though  but  two 
towers  and  a  portion  of  wall  are  left  of  the  medieval 
city,  and  it  is  famous  as  the  centre  of  the  romantic 
scenes  of  the  Nibelungen,  but  perhaps  best  known  to 
the  world  from  the  historic  Diet  held  there  in  1521, 
at  which  Luther  defended  his  doctrines  before  the 
Emperor  and  the  assembled  princes  and  nobles 
so  successfully,  that  he  left  there  a  conqueror.  His 
monument  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  features 
of  the  town. 

Mayence,  the  closing  scene  of  Richard's  cap- 
tivity, is  likewise  of  Roman  origin,  and  has  a  romantic 
history,  in  which  the  struggle  for  power  between 
the  Archbishops  and  the  townspeople  played  a  great 
part,  but  there  is  little  to  be  seen  of  the  medieval 
city.  The  tower  of  Drusus,  the  traditional  founder 
of  Mayence,  a  pile  of  Roman  masonry  of  the  ninth 
century,  is  one  of  the  few  ancient  landmarks,  and  the 
remains  of  a  Roman  aqueduct  may  be  seen  outside 
the  town.  The  cathedral  also  dates  from  the  eleventh 
and  twelfth  centuries,  but  has  been  so  frequently 
added  to  and  restored  that  there  is  little  of  it  that 
can  be  said  to  be  twelfth-century  work,  excepting 
two  fine  bronze  doors  cast  in  988,  which  bear  an 
inscription  dated  1135,  by  which  the  Archbishop 
conferred  certain  privileges  on  the  citizens  in  return 
for  their  assistance  in  procuring  his  release  from 


352 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


captivity  in  the  castle  of  Trifels,  which  name  carries 
us  back  to  the  object  of  our  pilgrimage. 

Yes !  Coeur  de  Lion  may  have  read  the  inscrip- 
tion fresh  from  his  own  captivity  there,  and  given 
God  thanks  for  his  deliverance  where  now  we  stand. 


INDEX 


Accursed  Tower,  the,  96. 

Achard,  Lord  of  Chaluz,  243,  245. 

Achilleon,  Palace  of,  339. 

Acre,  siege  of,  84;  communication 
with  Saladin,  85,  91,  92,  94; 
failure  of  the  assault,  95,  96 ; 
fall  of  "  the  Accursed  Tower," 
96  ;  assault  by  Earl  of  Leicester 
and  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  98 ; 
the  surrender,  102 ;  fighting  be- 
tween Pisans  and  Genoese,  138, 
141,  183,  184;  Bay  of,  303, 
305-309. 

Allied  armies,  the,  disharmony 
within,  62,  63,  135,  158,  163. 

Angers,  282,  284,  286. 

Angouleme,  291. 

Anjou,  Counts  of,  legends  of  the 
origin  of,  13. 

Antwerp,  211. 

Aquileia,  191,  343. 

Aquitaine,  23. 

Aquitaine,  Duke  of.     See  Richard. 

Arbe,  island  of,  327. 

Argenton,  Roger  de,  194. 

Arnoldia,  94. 

Arques,  siege  of,  228. 

Arranch,  the,  234. 

Arras,  242. 

Arsuf,  battle  of,  121-125,  315. 

Ascalon,  128, 137, 138, 164, 165, 321. 

Assassins,  85,  141. 

Athlit,  115,  118,  312. 

Austria,  Duke  of,  131,  188,  195,  224, 
225,  345. 

Avesnes,  James  of,  the  Fleming,  125. 

"  Bad  Kinsman,  the,"  96. 
"  Bad  Neighbour,  the,"  96. 
Baldwin,  Count  of  Flanders,  241, 

242. 
Barfleur,  256. 
Barres,  Pet^r  des,  85. 
Barres,  William  des,  113. 
Beaumont  Palace,  15. 
Bedouins,  the,  122. 

19 


Beersheba,  323. 

Beit  Jibrin,  323,  324. 

Beit  Nuba,  135,  157,  161,  162,  164, 
316,  319. 

Bekr,  Abu,  172. 

"  Belfry,  the,"  96. 

Berengaria  of  Navarre,  66 ;  at 
Messina,  67  ff . ;  at  Cyprus,  72,  76 ; 
marriage,  77 ;  crowned  queen,  77  ; 
lands  at  Acre,  83;  installed  in 
the  royal  palace,  104 ;  goes  to 
Jaffa,  132 ;  the  return  journey,  1 83 ; 
estranged  from  Richard,  214;  re- 
conciliation, 226 ;  at  his  death- 
bed, 247,  294,  295. 

Betsau,  Frederick  of,  194. 

Beyrout,  85. 

Black  Count,  the,  13,  14. 

Blanche  Garde,  154,  323,  325. 

Blois,  Peter  of,  11. 

Blondel,  198. 

Bohadin,  the  Saracen  chronicler, 
88,  185. 

Bois,  Geoffrey  du,  167. 

Born,  Betrand  de,  26,  233,  291. 

Briton,  Will  le,  107. 

Brittany,  Arthur  of,  58,  233,  284. 

Burgundy,  Duke  of,  131,  138,  168. 

Csesarea,  118,  171,  313. 

Cairo,  siege  of,  165. 

Camville,  Richard  of,  83. 

Candes,  266,  267. 

Canterbury,  St.  Thomas  of,  46,  47, 

212. 
Cape  St.  Andrew,  Abbey  of,  82. 
Caravan,  the  great,  158-162. 
Carmel,  Mt.,  309. 
Carmelite  monastery,  310. 
Carron,  Baldwin  de,  157. 
Castille,  Blanche  of,  243. 
Castrum,  Arnaldi,  154. 
Catania,  63. 

Catulus,  Roger  Malus,  73. 
Cayphas,  115,  166. 
Cerine,  castle  of,  82. 


n 


■  j    i 


352 


RICHARD  COEUR  DE  LION 


captivity  in  the  castle  of  Trifels,  which  name  carries 
us  back  to  the  object  of  our  pilgrimage. 

Yes !  Coeur  de  Lion  may  have  read  the  mscrip- 
tion  fresh  from  his  own  captivity  there,  and  given 
God  thanks  for  his  deliverance  where  now  we  stand. 


INDEX 


Accursed  Tower,  the,  96. 

Achard,  Lord  of  Chaluz,  243,  246. 

Achilleon,  Palace  of,  339. 

Acre,  siege  of,  84;  communication 
with  Saladin,  85,  91,  92,  94; 
failure  of  the  assault,  95,  96 ; 
fall  of  "  the  Accursed  Tower," 
96  ;  assault  by  Earl  of  Leicester 
and  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  98 ; 
the  surrender,  102;  fighting  be- 
tween Pisans  and  Genoese,  138, 
141,  183,  184;  Bay  of,  303, 
305-309. 

Allied  armies,  the,  disharmony 
within,  62,  63,  135,  158,  163. 

Angers,  282,  284,  286. 

Angouleme,  291. 

Anjou,  Ounts  of,  legends  of  the 
origin  of,  13. 

Antwerp,  211. 

Aquileia,  191,  343. 

Aquitaine,  23. 

Aquitaine,  Duke  of.     See  Richard. 

Arbe,  island  of,  327. 

Argenton,  Roger  de,  194. 

Arnoldia,  94. 

Arques,  siege  of,  228. 

Arranch,  the,  234. 

Arras  242. 

Arsuf!  battle  of,  121-125,  315. 

Ascalon,  128, 137, 138, 164, 165, 321. 

Assassins,  85,  141. 

Athlit,  115,  118,  312. 

Austria,  Duke  of,  131,  188,  195,  224, 
225,  345. 

Avesnes,  James  of,  the  Fleming,  125. 

"  Bad  Kinsman,  the,"  96. 
"  Bad  Neighbour,  the,"  96. 
Baldwin,  Count  of  Flanders,  241, 

242. 
Barfleur,  256. 
Barres,  Peter  des,  85. 
Barres,  William  des,  113. 
Beaumont  Palace,  15. 
Bedouins,  the,  122. 

19 


Beersheba,  323. 

Beit  Jibrin,  323,  324. 

Beit  Nuba,  135,  157,  161,  162,  164, 
316,  319. 

Bekr,  Abu,  172. 

"  Belfry,  the,"  9G 

Berengaria  of  i*avarre,  65 ;  at 
Messina,  67  ff . ;  at  Cyprus,  72,  76 ; 
marriage,  77 ;  crowned  queen,  77  ; 
lands  at  Acre,  83;  installed  in 
the  royal  palace,  104 ;  goes  to 
Jaffa,  132 ;  the  return  journey,  1 83 ; 
estranged  from  Richard,  214;  re- 
conciliation, 226 ;  at  his  death- 
bed, 247,  294,  295. 

Betsau,  Frederick  of,  194. 

Beyrout,  85. 

Black  Count,  the,  13,  14. 

Blanche  Garde,  154,  323,  325. 

Blois,  Peter  of,  11. 

Blondel,  198. 

Bohadin,  the  Saracen  chronicler, 
88,  185. 

Bois,  Geoffrey  du,  167. 

Born,  Betrand  de,  26,  233,  291. 

Briton,  Will  le,  107. 

Brittany,  Arthur  of,  58,  233,  284. 

Burgundy,  Duke  of,  131,  138,  168. 

CsBsarea,  118,  171,  313. 

Cairo,  siege  of,  165. 

Camville,  Richard  of,  83. 

Candes,  266,  267. 

Canterbury,  St.  Thomas  of,  46,  47, 

212. 
Cape  St.  Andrew,  Abbey  of,  82. 
Caravan,  the  great,  158-162. 
Carmel,  Mt.,  309. 
Carmelite  monastery,  310. 
Carron,  Baldwin  de,  157. 
Castillo,  Blanche  of,  243. 
Castrum,  Arnaldi,  154. 
Catania,  63. 

Catulus,  Roger  Malus,  73. 
Cayphas,  115,  166. 
Cerine,  castle  of,  82. 


(! 


I 

I 


354 


INDEX 


Chaluz,  siege  of,  243-248,  291,  292. 
Champagne,   Henry   of,    145,    146, 

164,  173,  176. 
Chateau  GaiUard,  231,  235-238.  241. 

Chavigny,  181.  oaa_9AA 

Chinon,  ordinances  of,  45,  264-Z60. 

Civil  war,  202. 

Clements,  Alberic,  97,  98. 

Cologne,  211. 

ComnenuB.  Isaac,  King  of  Cyprus, 
72;  defies  Richard,  74;  is  de- 
feated, 75-81;  at  Nicosia,  82; 
taken  captive,  83,  327. 

Corfu,  184,  339. 

Crete,  harbour  of,  72. 

Crown  rights,  etc.,  sale  of,  38- 

Crusade,  the,  preparation  for,  37, 
38, 41, 42  ;   the  spirit  of,  116,  116. 

Crusaders,  ordinance  concerning 
property  of,  61. 

C^TUB,  72,  73,  326.  328-338. 

Dalmatian  coast,  the,  342. 

Danube,  the,  345. 

Darum  (Deir-el-Beleh),  the  siege  of, 

146,  147,  148,  322. 
Deserters,  132. 
Deville,  M.,  301,  302. 
Diet,  the,  202. 

Divine  service,  celebration  of,  183. 
Douai,  242. 

Dromund,  the  taking  of  the,  86-88. 
Drusus,  the  tower  of,  351. 
Durrenstein,  castle  of,  195,  345. 
Diirrenstein,  village  of,  346. 

Eleanor.  Duchess  of  Aquitaine, 
Queen  of  France,  4;  her  grand- 
father, Duke  William,  6 ;  accom- 
panies King  Louis  vn.  to  the  Holy 
Land,  6 ;  disaster  at  Laodicea, 
7;  dissolution  of  marriage,  8; 
marriage  with  Henry  Plantagenet, 
8 ;  birth  of  Richard,  16 ;  appointed 
Queen  Regent,  32;  goes  to 
Messina,  65 ;  returns  to  England, 
66 ;  exposes  John's  intrigues,  150 ; 
appeals  to  the  Pope,  197,  198 ;  at 
Mainz,  208;  at  Winchester,  214; 
at  the  death-bed  of  Richard,  246. 

Elizabeth,  Empress  of  Austria,  339. 

£l-Jora,  322. 

Emmaus,  155. 

Eselsturm,  347. 

Evreux,  Bishop  of,  96. 

Evieuz,  garrison  of,  258. 

Famagusta,  83,  327,  329. 


Fire,  Greek,  94,  95. 
Flanders,  Count  of,  96. 
Fontevraud,  Abbey  Church  of,  265, 

267-281. 
Frederick  Barbarossa.  See  Germany. 
Frederick,    Emperor   of    Germany. 

See  Germany. 
French  Army,  the,  dissolute  life  of, 

111,  176. 
Fulk  Nerra,  the  Black  Count,  13, 

14,  137,  154.  283,  326. 
Furbia,  148. 

Gales,  equinoctial,  184. 

Gambling,  regulations  prohibiting, 

61. 
Gaza,  322. 
Germany,  Emperors  of:  Frederick 

Barbarossa,     84,     178;     Henry 

VI.,  196,  206-208,  212,  227.  232. 

339. 
Gibeleth.85. 
Gibraltar,   Straits   of    (the    Straits 

of  Africa),  54. 
Gisors,  243,  296. 
Golgotha,  the  sacred  rock,  182. 

Haifa.  111.  113,  115,  177,  304, 
309. 

Hebron,  151. 

Henry  n.,  description  of,  by  Peter 
Blois,  11 ;  description  of,  by 
K.  Norgate,  12;  quarrels  with 
Richard,  24;  reconciliation,  25; 
renews  the  quarrel,  25  ;  pursued 
by  Richard,  26 ;  his  death,  26, 
27,  265. 

Hilarion,  castle  of,  333. 

Hittim,  battle  of,  86. 

Hospitallers,  the,  121.  123. 133, 158. 
164,  166,  176.  ^    , .  V 

Hostages,  slaughter  of  the  Turkish, 
107,  108. 

Hoveden,  Roger  of,  65. 


Ibelin,  136. 
Ibrahim  Pasha,  306. 
Insula,  Manasses  de,  157. 

Jaffa,  camp  at,  128,  131 ;  relief  of, 

166-168,171,315. 
Jerusalem,  the  march  to,  114,  115, 

135,     136,      156;      visited     by 

pilgrims,  181,  182.  320. 
Jews,  the,  massacre  of,  36,  215. 
Johanna,    Queen    of    Sicily,    51; 

leased  by  Tancred,  57 ;  at  Cyprus, 

72 ;  at  Acre,  104 ;  goes  to  Jaffa,  182 ; 


INDEX 


355 


marriage  proposed  with  Al  Adil. 
133 ;  the  return  journey,  183,  233. 

John,  plots  against  Richard,  141, 
205;  flees  to  France,  212;  re- 
conciled to  Richard,  216.  258, 
284. 

Judea,  mountains  of,  325. 

Justiciars,  the.  202. 

Karst,  345. 
Kishon,  113. 
Kurds,  the,  172. 
Kyrenia,  333,  338. 

Lacroma,  191,  340,  342. 

Laodicea,  disaster  at,  7. 

La  Rochefoucaulds,  291. 

Lebanon,  142. 

Leicester,  Earl  of,  98,  157,  162,  174. 

Le  Mans,  293-296,  301. 

Leo,  brother  of  Rupin  de  la  Mun- 

taine,  77. 
Les  Andelys,  231,  297. 
Limasol,  72-81,  327,  337. 
Limoges,  Adamar  of,  243. 
Limousin,  243-244. 
Lisieux,  257. 
Loches,  castle  of,  218. 
Loire,  the,  284. 
Louis  vn..  King  of  France,  8. 
Louis,  son  of  King  of  France,  243. 
Lusignan,      Guv      de.      King      of 

Jerusalem,  77,  93,  95,  106,  132, 

146. 
Lydda,  316. 
Lyons,  disaster  at,  44,  45. 

Mainz,  207,  208. 

Malic  Adel,  101. 

Malo  Leone,  Ralph  de,  174. 

Mamluks,  171,  172. 

Margot,  castle  of,  85. 

Mate  Griffon,  62. 

Mayence,  351. 

Mecca,  185. 

Mediterranean,  the,  321. 

Meinhard,  Count  of  Goritz  or  Gorz, 

192-194. 
Mercadier,  246. 
Messina,  52,  55. 
Moab,  mountains  of,  320. 
Mont    Chablon,     Clarembald     de, 

157. 
Montferrat,  Conrad  de,  marquis,  84, 

91, 106,  133, 134, 138, 141, 143. 
Montmirail,  castle  of.  216. 
Moors,  the,  53. 
Moslems,  the,  53. 


»» 


Moussair  la  Bataille,  287. 
Mukam  el  Muntar,  323. 
Munchenis,  Stephen  de.  104. 

Napoleon,  305,  319. 
Nebi  Samwil,  155,  319,  320. 
Nephyn  and  Botron,  85. 
Nicosia,  82,  330,  332,  333. 
Nottingham,  castle  of,  212,  213. 

Oberham,  fortress  of,  346. 

Ochsenfort,  346,  347. 

"  Old  Man  of  the  Mountains,  the. 

85,  141-143. 
.  Olives,  Mount  of,  320. 
Otto,  King  of  the  Romans,  232. 
Oxford,  15,  17,  18. 


Pampeluna,  68. 

Passau,  346. 

Patriarch,  the,  165. 

Perigueux,  292,  293. 

Philip,  King  of  France,  33,  55,  5d, 
58 ;  meeting  between  Philip  and 
Richard,  61 ;  Philip's  treachery, 
64 ;  rupture  with  Richard,  65  ; 
sails  for  Acre,  67  ;  meeting  with 
Richard,  92,  93 ;  assault  on 
Acre,  94,  95 ;  disheartened,  96 ; 
quarrels  with  Richard,  104,  105 ; 
returns  to  France,  106,  178 ; 
slanders  Richard,  192 ;  agreement 
with  John,  202,  205,  217-223; 
truce  with  Richard,  222,  223; 
breaks  the  truce,  228,  233,  234 ; 
attempts  to  rescue  Arras,  242 ; 
verbal  treaty,  242 ;  breaks  the 
peace,  243. 

Pisa,  47. 

Plantagenet,  Henry,  Duke  of  Nor- 
mandy, 8-12» 

Poitiers,  23,  24,  286. 

Poitou,  Count  of,  68. 

Poitou,  Raymond  of,  8. 

Pop,  the,  48.  196,  197.  232. 

Prlaux,  Peter  des,  167. 

Preaux,  William  de,  131. 

Ragusa,  188,  327,  340-341,  343. 
Ralf,  Eari  of  Chester,  233. 
Ramleh,  136,  181,  316,  319. 
Ransom,  the  King's,  205-207. 
Ras-el-Ain,  148. 
Ratisbon,  346. 

Raymond,  Prince  of  Antioch,  77. 
Raymond  n.,  of  Tripoli,  85. 
Refugees,  foreign,  16-18. 
Rheims,  Archbishop  of,  218. 


■:|1:!1 


356 


INDEX 


Rhodes,  72. 

Richard  i. :  personality,   1^ ;    his 
parents,  8,  11,  12;  ancestry,  13, 
14;    birthplace,    15;    birth,    16; 
childhood,  16 ;  crowned  Duke  of 
Aquitaine,  22  ;  family  differences, 
24-26;    King   of    England,    26; 
reconciliation  with    William  the 
Marshal,    27,    28,    31;    appoints 
his   mother   Queen   Regent,   32 ; 
his  coronation,  34-35  ;    massacre 
of  the   Jews,    36;    prepares   for 
the  Crusade,  38 ;    en  route,  43-48, 
51 ;  nicknamed  "  the  Lion,"  66  ; 
releases  his  sister  Joan,  56,  67  ; 
reconciled  to  Tancred,  58  ;  winter 
quarters,  62  ;  journey  to  Catania, 
63 ;    enemies    in    Germany,    65 ; 
sails  for  Palestine,  71 ;  at  Cyprus, 
72-81 ;    his    marriage,    77 ;    pro- 
ceeds to  Nicosia,  82 ;    departure 
for  Jerusalem,  83  ;    siege  of  Acre, 
84 ;    taking  of  the  "  dromund," 
85-88;    refused     entrance     into 
Tyre,  91 ;    sights  Scandalion,  91 ; 
-at  Acre,  92,  93 ;   hia  illness,  94 ; 
recovery,  97  ;  message  to  Saladin, 
9S,    101;    slaughter    of    Turkish 
hostages,  107, 108 ;  leaves  the  city, 
108;  repulses  the  Saracens,  113; 
at   Arsuf,    123-127;    his   advice 
ignored,    131;   rallies  his  forces, 
132 ;  negotiates  with  Saladin,  133 ; 
at  Ramleh,  135  ;  reaches  Ascalon, 
•- 137  ;  conference  with  Montferrat, 
141 ;  at  Darum,  147, 148  ;  decides 
to  stay  in  Palestine,  153 ;  sights 
Jerusalem,  155  ;    raids  the  great 
caravan,    158-162 ;    prepares    to 
return  to   England,    165 ;    relief 
of     Jaffa,     165-168;    negotiates 
with  Saladin,  172  ;    his  last  fight 
4n  Palestine,  173-176  ;  his  illness, 
176;     signs    the     treaty,     177; 
leaves  Palestine,   184 ;    lands  at 
Corfu,  188 ;  founds  monastery  of 
Lacroma,    191 ;   his  arrest,   195 ; 
before    the    Diet,    202-204;    his 
release    208;    returns    to    Eng- 
land,  211 ;    his   reception,    213 ; 
goes     to     Normandy,     215 ;    at 
Venddme,  218 ;    captures  French 
baggage  train,  221;    truce  with 
France,     222-223;     takes     Les 
Andelys,    231;     builds    Chateau 
Gaillard,    235-241 ;    at    Chaluz, 
243-251;    his  death,  248. 
Riderfort,  Gerard  de,  85. 


Rochechouart,  291. 
Romerturm,  the,  347. 
Rothschilds'  colony,  313. 
Rouen,  Archbishop  of,  218,  232. 
Rouen,  Cathedral  of,  298,  301,  302. 
Round  Fountain,  the,  161. 


St.  Albans,  shrine  of,  213. 

St.  Barnabas,  Byzantine  monastery 

of,  330. 
St.  Hilaire,  288. 
St.  Jean,  baptistry  of,  287,  288. 
St.  Radegonde,  collegiate  church  of, 

288. 
Saladin,  85 ;  headquarters,  91,  92 ; 
taking  of  Acre,  95-102,  107, 
108,  117;  his  army,  121;  at 
the  battle  of  Arsuf,  122-127; 
resorts  to  strategy,  128-134,  161, 
163,  164,  172,  175;  his  ad- 
miration      for      Richard,      177 ; 

Erotects  the    pilgrims,    181-183; 
is  last  days,  185-187. 
Salamis,  330. 
Salerno,  51. 

Salisbury,  Bishop  of.     See  Walter. 
San  Donato,  344. 
Sancho,  King  of  Portugal,  53. 
Saphadin,  91,  174,  176. 
Saracens,  the,  88,  91,  92,  94,  95, 
113-118,    122,     126,     131,     155, 
157,  161,  162,  175. 
"Saucy     Castle."      See     Chateau 
Gaillard. 

Saumur,  281,  282. 

Scandalion,  91. 

Schotten  Kirche,  347. 

Schouwen,  211,  212. 

Selvedene,  forest  of,  48. 

Sicily,  183,  184. 

Silvia,  city  of,  63. 

Sirocco,  the,  113. 

Sling  stones,  96. 

Soudanese,  the,  122. 

Speyer,  347. 

Standard,  the,  origin  of,  112. 

Starhemberg,  Prince,  345,  346. 

Stromboli,  island  of,  48. 


Takedin,  124,  125. 

Tancred,  King  of  Sicily,  51,  56-68, 

63,  64.  184.     , 
Taormina,  64. 
Tarantulas,  115. 
Tell  es  Safieh,  323. 
Templars,  the,  104,  121,  133,J136, 

168,  164,  166,  168,  176. 
Temple,  the,  Richard  of,  155,  182. 


INDEX 


357 


Tithe,  the  Saladin,  38. 
Tolouse,  Raymond  of,  233. 
Torres  Novas,  castle  of,  62,  63. 
Tournaments,  military,  223. 
Tours,  43,  44,  178,  217,  261-264. 
Treves,  350-351. 
Trifels,  castle  of,  352. 
Tripoli,  85. 

Troubadour  land,  the,  291. 
Turnham,  Stephen  of,  83,  183. 
Turon,  164. 
Tyre,  91,  U5. 

Vaudreuil,  conference  at,  228. 
Velibit  mountains,  345. 
Verdun,  Bertrand  de,  104. 
Verneuil,  siege  of,  216,  258. 
V6zelai,  44. 


I  Wachan,  the,  345. 
I  Wady  Sheriah,  323. 
Walter,  Hubert,  98,  182,  202,  204, 

212,  215,  223. 
Wendover,  Roger  of,  226. 
White  Ship,  the,  256. 
William  the  lion.  King  of  Scots, 

214. 
William  the  Marshal,  26-31. 
William,  Prince,  son  of  Henry  L, 

256. 
Winchester,  213. 
Worms,  351. 
Wurtzburg,  treaty  of,  206. 

York,  sale  of  the  Archbishopric,  38. 
Zara,  343-345. 


356 


INDEX 


INDEX 


357 


Rhodes,  72. 

Richard  i. :  personality,   1-4;    hia 
parents,  8,   11,  12;  ancestry,  13, 
14;    birthplace,    15;    birth,    16; 
childhood,  16 ;  crowned  Duke  of 
Aquitaine,  22  ;  family  differences, 
24-26;    King   of    England,    26; 
reconciliation  with    William  the 
Marshal,    27,    28,    31;    appoints 
his  mother   Queea   Regent,   32; 
his  coronation,  34-35  ;    massacre 
of   the   Jews,    36;    prepares   for 
the  Crusade,  38  ;    en  route,  43-48, 
51 ;  nicknamed  "  the  Lion,"  66  ; 
releases  his  sister  Joan,  56,  57 ; 
reconciled  to  Tancred,  58  ;  winter 
quarters,  62  ;  journey  to  Catania, 
63;    enemies    in    Germany,    65; 
sails  for  Palestine,  71 ;  at  Cyprus, 
72-81 ;    his   marriage,    77 ;    pro- 
ceeds to  Nicosia,  82 ;    departure 
for  Jerusalem,  83  ;    siege  of  Acre, 
84;    taking  of  the  "  dromund," 
85-88;    refused     entrance     into 
Tyre,  91 ;    sights  Scandalion,  91 ; 
..at  Acre,  92,  93 ;   his  illness,  94 ; 
recovery,  97  ;  message  to  Saladin, 
98,    101;    slaughter    of    Turkish 
hostages,  107, 108 ;  leaves  the  city, 
108;  repulses  the  Saracens,  113; 
at  Arsuf,    123-127;    his    advice 
ignored,    131;   rallies  his  forces, 
132 ;  negotiates  with  Saladin,  133 ; 
at  Ramleh,  135  ;  reaches  Ascalon, 
-^  137  ;  conference  with  Montferrat, 
141 ;  at  Darum,  147, 148  ;  decides 
to  stay  in  Palestine,  153 ;  sights 
Jerusalem,  155 ;    raids  the  great 
caravan,    158-162;    prepares    to 
return  to   England,    165 ;    relief 
of     Jaffa,     165-168;    negotiates 
with  Saladin,  172  ;    his  last  fight 
-in  Palestine,  173-175  ;  his  illness, 
176;     signs    the    treaty,     177; 
leaves  Palestine,    184 ;    lands  at 
Corfu,  188 ;  founds  monastery  of 
Lacroma,   191 ;  his  arrest,   195 ; 
before    the    Diet,    202-204;    his 
release    208;    returns    to    Eng- 
land,  211;    his   reception,    213; 
goes     to     Normandy,     215 ;    at 
Venddme,  218  ;    captures  French 
baggage  train,  221 ;    truce  with 
France,      222-223;     takes      Les 
Andelys,    231;     builds    Chateau 
Gaillard,    235-241;     at    Chaluz, 
243-261  ;    his  death,  248. 
Riderfort,  Gerard  de,  85. 


Rochechouart,  291. 
Romerturm,  the,  347. 
Rothschilds'  colony,  313. 
Rouen,  Archbishop  of,  218,  232. 
Rouen,  Cathedral  of,  298,  301,  302. 
Round  Fountain,  the,  161. 


St.  Albans,  shrine  of,  213. 

St.  Barnabas,  Byzantine  monastery 

of,  330. 
St.  Hilaire,  288. 

St.  Jean,  baptistry  of,  287,  288. 
St.  Radegonde,  collegiate  church  of, 

288. 
Saladin,  85;  headquarters,  91,  92; 
taking    of     Acre,    95-102,    107, 
108,    117;    his    army,    121;    at 
the    battle    of    Arsuf,    122-127; 
resorts  to  strategy,  128-134,  161, 
163,     164,     172,     175;    his    ad- 
miration      for      Richard,      177 ; 
protects  the    pilgrims,   181-183; 
his  last  days,  185-187. 
Salamis,  330. 
Salerno,  51. 

Salisbury,  Bishop  of.    See  Walter. 
San  Donato,  344. 
Sancho,  King  of  Portugal,  53. 
Saphadin,  91,  174,  176. 
Saracens,  the,   88,  91,  92,  94,  95, 
113-118,    122,    126,     131,     155, 
157,  161,  162,  175. 
"Saucy      Castle."      See     Chateau 

Gaillard. 
Saumur,  281,  282. 
Scandalion,  91. 
Schotten  Kirche,  347. 
Schouwen,  211,  212. 
Selvedene,  forest  of,  48. 
Sicily,  183,  184. 
Silvia,  city  of,  53. 
Sirocco,  the,  113. 
Sling  stones,  96. 
Soudanese,  the,  122. 
Speyer,  347. 

Standard,  the,  origin  of,  112. 
Starhemberjg,  Prince,  345,  346. 
Stromboli,  island  of,  48. 


Takedin,  124,  126. 

Tancred,  King  of  Sicily,  61,  56-68, 

63,  64.  184.     ^ 
Taormina,  64. 
Tarantulas,  115. 
Tell  es  Safieh,  323. 
Templars,  the,  104,  121,  133,^136, 

158,  164,  166,  168,  176. 
Temple,  the,  Richard  of,  155,  182. 


Tithe,  the  Saladin,  38. 
Tolouse,  Raymond  of,  233. 
Torres  Novas,  castle  of,  52,  53. 
Tournaments,  military,  223. 
Tours,  43,  44,  178,  217,  261-264. 
Treves,  360-361. 
Trifels,  castle  of,  362. 
Tripoli,  86. 

Troubadour  land,  the,  291. 
Tumham,  Stephen  of,  83,  183. 
Turon,  164. 
Tyre,  91,  146. 

Vaudreuil,  conference  at,  228. 
Velibit  mountains,  345. 
Verdun,  Bertrand  de,  104. 
Verneuil,  siege  of,  216,  268. 
V6zelai,  44. 


Wachan,  the,  345. 

Wady  Sheriah,  323. 

Walter,  Hubert,  98,  182,  202,  204, 

212,  215,  223. 
Wendover,  Roger  of,  225. 
White  Ship,  the,  256. 
William  the  Lion,  King  of  Scots, 

214. 
William  the  Marshal,  26-31. 
William,  Prince,  son  of  Henry  I., 

266. 
Winchester,  213. 
Worms,  351. 
Wurtzburg,  treaty  of,  205. 

York,  sale  of  the  Archbishopric,  38. 
I  Zara,  343-345. 


PrinUd  by 

MOKRIWOlf  k  Qm  LOflTID 

Edinburgh 


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